To help 20.9 million vulnerable people in various parts of Nigeria, Chad, and five other African countries, humanitarian partners would require $4.7 billion, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Its 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Requirement Overview report, posted on its website on Thursday, revealed this. Africa’s Sahel region divides tropical savannas to the south from the Sahara Desert to the north. It includes Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Chad.

To guarantee that the region’s humanitarian response plans can be completely executed by the end of the year, the OCHA asked the international community to provide liberally.

According to the UN agency, a complex and interconnected web of crises made worse by instability, a deteriorating security situation, and the consequences of climate change harm the lives of 32.8 million people throughout the Sahel.

The message went on to say that they now needed protective services and humanitarian aid due to the event. It stated that increasing levels of violence and conflict in the Sahel are endangering people’s lives and means of subsistence, driving families from their homes and limiting their access to essential social services.

The UN reported that 7.9 million people in Nigeria’s Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states are in need, but with the necessary $926.5 million in funds, the organization will focus on 4.4 million people.

It also revealed that the region is home to two million refugees and asylum seekers in addition to 5.6 million internally displaced people, many of whom have experienced multiple displacements, and that 2.2 million children in the area were denied their right to an education as a result of school closures. Additionally, 1,263 health centres are closed.

“Humanitarian partners require US$ 4.7 billion in 2024 to meet the urgent needs of 20.9 million people in Burkina Faso, Cameroon’s Far North Region, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria’s Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

“The OCHA is warning that lives are at risk unless humanitarians are given the resources needed to respond to these crises and support the region’s most vulnerable people,” the report read.

According to the research, as of 30 April 2024, Burkina Faso and Nigeria had more than 2.1 million internally displaced people apiece, making them the countries with the largest numbers.

“Of the 7.6 million total displaced people as of 30 April 2024, 5.6 million were internally displaced persons. Across West and Central Africa, more than half of all refugees and asylum seekers are children. Burkina Faso and Nigeria host the highest number of internally displaced persons with over 2.1 million each as of 30 April 2024, while Chad hosts the highest number of refugees and asylum seekers with 1.2 million as of the same date. The resurgence of conflict in Sudan has already driven more than half a million Sudanese to seek refuge in neighbouring Chad, and this number is likely to increase further unless the situation there stabilizes,” it said.