Norway helps female victims of Boko Haram in Nigeria

By Rafiu Ajakaye

LAGOS, Nigeria (AA) - Norway has donated $11.5 million to girls and women affected by Boko Haram violence in Nigeria’s northeast, specifically targeting basic education and assistance for female victims of violence in the region, according to a statement by UNICEF.

“The funding will also support approximately 1,600 of the thousands of girls and women that UNICEF estimates have been raped, abducted and forcibly married as a result of the conflict,” according to the statement issued Friday night in Abuja.

The statement said the funding is part of the government-backed Safe School Initiative in the northern region.

In 2013, Norway was a pioneer member of the initiative’s committee established in response to Boko Haram attacks on schools in the region and the urgent need to provide a safe learning environment for children.

The statement said the fund will further boost access to education for an additional half a million boys and girls in internally displaced persons’ camps, host communities and areas of Borno state that have recently become accessible areas to humanitarian assistance.

“We believe in the importance of doing what we can to break the cycle of violence in northeast Nigeria”, it quoted the Norwegian Ambassador to Nigeria, Jens-Petter Kjemprud who spoke at the signing ceremony to formalize the funding.

“This funding will provide more children complete basic education in a good learning environment and will provide much-needed counselling for girls who have suffered unimaginable trauma at the hands of Boko Haram,” he said.

UNICEF said the funding from Norway will provide children, especially girls affected by the conflict, with uniforms to wear at school and will enable them to learn in secure, safe and protected environments.

Nigeria’s northeast is ravaged by Boko Haram violence, which has killed estimated 20,000 people and displaced over two million.