The UN has allocated $48 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to sustain the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) in eight countries, including Nigeria. The funding, announced by Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, will support humanitarian operations in Nigeria, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Kenya, South Sudan, Sudan and Syria. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric disclosed the allocation during a briefing at UN headquarters in New York, stating that UNHAS serves as a lifeline for aid workers and essential supplies. The service had previously suspended fixed-wing operations in Nigeria in September 2025 due to a lack of funds, disrupting access to conflict-affected areas in the northeast. Dujarric attributed the new funding to a recent $2 billion contribution by the United States to UN humanitarian accounts. In 2024, UNHAS transported more than 9,000 passengers across its network, with over 4,500 humanitarian staff relying on the service in Nigeria alone during 2025. The World Food Programme had previously warned that the funding shortfall could lead to cuts in emergency food and nutrition assistance for 1.3 million people in Northeast Nigeria.
Tom Fletcher's $48 million allocation for UNHAS reveals how precariously dependent Nigeria's humanitarian response in the northeast is on unpredictable foreign funding cycles. The fact that the UN had to halt fixed-wing operations in September 2025 after running out of money underscores the fragility of aid infrastructure in the region, despite years of sustained conflict and displacement. This stop-start pattern of funding does not reflect a breakdown in global generosity but rather a calculated prioritisation by donor nations, where Nigeria often ranks behind more geopolitically visible crises.
The suspension of UNHAS flights last year directly impacted over 4,500 humanitarian personnel who rely on the service to reach cut-off communities, exposing a deeper issue: Nigeria's federal structures have failed to create a domestic mechanism to support aid logistics in conflict zones. While the U.S. contribution of $2 billion temporarily unblocks the pipeline, it also highlights Abuja's growing delegation of emergency response logistics to international actors. The federal government has not stepped in to co-finance or build parallel systems, even as 1.3 million people face potential cuts to food and nutrition aid.
For civilians in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, the return of UNHAS flights means delayed relief, not resolved risk. Aid workers may now move again, but the underlying vulnerability — total reliance on foreign-funded air services — remains unchanged. This is not just a logistical shortfall but a governance gap in national emergency planning.
A pattern is clear: Nigerian crises are increasingly managed through international humanitarian parachutes rather than homegrown systems. Each funding suspension and resumption reinforces a cycle of dependency that leaves local populations at the mercy of global budgetary shifts.
