The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated the sum of $600,000 as relief fund to Nigeria, News About Nigeria reports.
The senior special assistant to the Vice President on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, revealed this in a statement on Thursday.
He noted that announcement of the donation had been made when Vice President Kashim Shettima met with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation led by its head of Global Development Programme, Dr. Christopher Elias, on the sidelines of the 79th United Nations General Assembly in New York.
According to him, the fund is to be used in fastening relief efforts for the victims of flood in the country, adding that it will also be used in carrying out reforms in the health and agricultural sectors.
This is coming days after the Federal Government established a Disaster Relief Fund that would enable it to “build greater resilience” in preventing and responding to natural disasters nationwide, especially floods.
The statement reads in part, “The relief fund is to hasten relief efforts for victims of the devastating floods, as well as for health and agricultural sectors’ reforms”
The statement is titled ‘Nigeria secures $600,000 for flood relief, health, agric sectors’ reforms.
“Specifically, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged the $600,000 for flood relief in Borno state and other health sector initiatives, with an additional $5m grant approved for Lagos Business School and partners to develop the agricultural economics of industrial cassava.
“We are deeply committed to addressing the pressing developmental challenges facing our nation, particularly the significant malnutrition crisis.”
