Chioma Umeha
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) weekend, condemned the killing of three Nigerian aid workers in
a Boko Haram attack on a military installation in Borno.
Speaking for the UN OCHA, Edward Kallon, the
Nigerian Coordinator, said that
apart from those who died and the injured, a female nurse was missing, feared
abducted.
Kallon in a statement by Samantha Newport, OCHA
Head of communications, said that two of the deceased were contractors with the
international organisation on migration, while the third victim was a medical
doctor employed as a third party consultant with UNICEF.
The deceased were working as coordinators in the
camp for 55,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) who fled their homes as a
result of on-going crisis in the north-east.
“Aid workers put their lives on the line every
single day to provide emergency assistance to vulnerable women, children and
men.
“Our deepest condolences go to the families of the
victims and our brave colleagues and we call on authorities to ensure that
perpetrators are brought to justice,” said Kallon.
He said that the UN was also very concerned about
other civilians who might have been injured or killed in the attack.
The coordinator noted that the humanitarian crisis
in Nigeria’s north-east, that had spilled over into the Lake Chad region was
one of the most severe in the world today.
According to him about 7.7 million people are in
need of humanitarian assistance in 2018 in the worst-affected states of Borno,
Adamawa and Yobe and 6.1 million targeted for humanitarian assistance.
“Now in its ninth year, the crisis shows no sign
of abating. Close to 80,000 people, including 55,000 internally displaced
persons, currently reside in Rann and are supported with humanitarian
assistance.
