U.S. Agency for International Development, (USAID) has reiterated continued commitments to be the premier development agency in Nigeria and across the world, under the new leadership of Ambassador Samantha Power
This was disclosed in a statement released by the US Embassy in Nigeria, as the Agency marks 60 years of existence in Nigeria, with Nigeria among the first countries in the world to receive development assistance under the Agency in 1961.
The statement noted that, all across the world, during the anniversary month of November, USAID staff and partners ill reflecting on the Agency’s success and challenges still to be met.
The USAID Mission Director Anne Patterson explained that “On this anniversary of President Kennedy’s vision of the United States as the world’s leader in providing a helping hand to countries struggling to develop,”, “I am proud to represent USAID in Nigeria, a country with tremendous potential to be leader in West Africa if it can overcome its many challenges. In Nigeria and around the world, USAID partners with some of the world’s top development agencies, the United Nations, local nongovernmental and civil society organizations, and host country governments to help save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen governance, and improve health, education, and economic prosperity.
According to the statement “USAID, is the biggest bilateral donor of Humanitarian Assistance to Nigeria, donating about $343 million in commodities and logistical support to ensure the displaced have enough to eat and access to basic health and human rights”.
The statement, also noted that “for six decades, USAID has built its reputation as the world’s premier international development organization by partnering with more than 100 countries to strengthen communities and improve lives”.
The statement reviewed that, in 2021 USAID will spend $787 million in development and humanitarian assistance in Nigeria. Outlining the achievement of the agency.
“Perhaps its biggest ongoing success in Nigeria has been its response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that has wrought the country since the 1980s. Through funding from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Walter Reed Army Research Institute, culminating in a 2019-2020 “surge” that greatly reduced a rising trend in vulnerable areas, especially in combination with the ongoing tuberculosis and new COVID-19 pandemics.
Adding that “today USAID supports testing for 2.4 million Nigerians a year, and provides free life-saving antiretroviral therapy for 89 percent of the nearly 400,000 individuals who have tested positive.
“USAID support has protected 68 million Nigerians from malaria by donations of mosquito nets through the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), which has contributed to a drop in child deaths by 16 percent over 10 years and helped reduce malaria prevalence from 42 percent to 23 percent.
Since 2015, USAID interventions in Education have helped millions of children and youth improve their lives through better early grade reading skills, and focus especially on more than 340,000 children whose education was suspended through conflict”.
Through Feed the Future, 2.3 million smallholder farmers benefited from improved products, improved techniques, and access to markets and financing through USAID agriculture programs last year. Power Africa reforms will improve an enabling environment and increase private investment in the energy sector, and strengthened management of water systems to increase access to reliable water and sanitation.
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