Aid Freeze by Donor Agencies Takes Toll on Nigeria

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August 25, 2025
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*Lost 23% of USAID’s country programmes by March 27

*FG confirms half-year negative ODA flows, constrained fiscal space

* WFP suspends hunger programme in North-east

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The massive cut of Official Development Assistance (ODA) from historical donor countries

is already taking a toll on Nigeria and other developing countries, constraining the fiscal space and worsening emergency hunger programme in the North east, among others.

While being sworn in for the second time on January 20, 2025, the United States President, Donald Trump had ordered an initial 90-day stoppage of the supply of medical aid related to HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis as well as the supplies of drugs and equipment meant for newborns in USAID-supported countries, including Nigeria.

Latest information made available by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation revealed that USAID had frozen 23 per cent of its entire programmes in Nigeria as of March 27, 2025, representing 0.05 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI).

The United States alone provided $7.8 billion in foreign aid to Nigeria between 2015 and 2024, supporting sectors like healthcare, security, and economic development.

As of May 7, 2025 only 891 or 14 per cent of the 6,256 operating USAID global programmes worth $69 billion were sustained (down from $120 billion on January 20, 2025).

In 2023 (the latest year available), the US contributed 20.7 per cent of total ODA to Africa.

Although there is no Nigeria-specific figure of Official Development Assistance (ODA)–a foreign aid metric used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to measure financial flows from wealthier countries to developing nations, Africa received $42 billion of the global total aid of $212 billion in 2024.

A new publication by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, titled “Demystifying Africa’s Dependence on Foreign Aid,” net ODA received as a share of GNI has remained more or less the same in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past 20 years, from 2.83 per cent in 2000 to 2.95 per cent in 2022.

“This represents the highest share of all world regions, five times higher than second place Middle East and North Africa at 0.59% in 2022.

“Unlike other regions which remained relatively stagnant, Sub-Saharan Africa was on a downward trend from the historical (since 2000) high of 4.29% in 2006 until 2019.

“However, between 2019 and 2020, ODA received as share of GNI increased from 2.96% to 3.94%, the steepest year-on year rise due to increased disbursements in the wake of COVID-19.

“In 43 out of the 51 African countries with available data, the ODA received-to-GNI ratio increased between 2019-2020, the highest number of countries since 2000. Since 2020, this number of countries has been on a downward trend again, albeit from a much higher starting point,” the report said.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun recently disclosed that Nigeria recorded negative ODA flows in the first half of 2025.

He said: “One way the fiscal space is constrained; first of all, overseas development assistance–the flow is negative. More countries- (developing) countries are paying back more in terms of repayments, in terms of debt servicing than they are receiving. And that has meant clearly constraint in the fiscal space.”

According to preliminary data across all DAC countries, cumulative ODA for all recipients and sectors fell by -7.1 pper cent in 2024 compared to 2023, the first drop after five years of consecutive growth.

To a large extent, analysts have attributed the drop to increases in ODA to Ukraine.

In Germany, Africa’s second largest bilateral donor after the US, budget reductions for ODA between 2023 and 2025 amounted to €3 billion ($3.1 billion), or 10.5 per cent . France’s 2025 budget includes a €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion) cut to development aid, bringing it to 18.6 per cent less than 2024.

The United Kingdom has also reduced development aid by about 6.5 per cent, from £15.3 billion in 2023 to £14.3 billion in 2025.

Of the top ten donors to Africa in 2023, six were multilateral (World Bank, European Union, Global Fund, United Nations, IMF and AfDB), and four Development Assistance Committee (DAC) countries–USA, Germany, France and Japan.

Although the federal government announced plans to increase domestic funding for the health sector following the United States’ decision to stop foreign aid to Nigeria and other developing nations, other sectors are already reeling from the cut in foreign aid

One of the casualties is the hunger programme in the Northeast.

The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations food aid agency and world’s largest provider of food assistance, which catered to some 1.3 million displaced people and others in hard-to-reach areas, fringe locations accessible only by helicopter, was recently forced to shut down over half of all its nutrition clinics across North east Nigeria.

The UN and its agencies were the focus of aid cuts from the United States in April, leading to the WFP receiving zero aid from the US this year, Other donors such as the European Union and the United Kingdom have also cut back on aid, instead diverting money to security as tensions remain high over Russia’s war in Ukraine.

With the increasing freezing of aid by traditional donor countries/agencies, the Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and others had recently advised African countries to look inwards and explore other funding windows.

She said: “Some traditional donors have lost faith in the conviction that underpinned aid, the notion that our future prosperity and their future prosperity would go hand in hand. While this is still true, their populations are no longer convinced.

“The world as we know it has changed for aid, trade and development. We are not likely to return to the familiar status quo ante. These shifts present Africa with obvious challenges, but they also contain opportunities for the continent to move forward and deliver better.”

The post Aid Freeze by Donor Agencies Takes Toll on Nigeria appeared first on THISDAYLIVE.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison

Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced Friday to four years and two months in prison for transporting people across state lines for sexual encounters, capping a sordid federal case that featured harrowing testimony and ended in a forceful reckoning for one of the most popular figures in hip-hop.
Combs, 55, was also fined half a million dollars. Since Combs has served a year in jail already, this sentence means he would be released in about three years. His lawyers wanted him freed immediately and said the time behind bars has already forced his remorse and sobriety.
He was convicted in July flying his girlfriends and male sex workers around the country to engage in drug-fueled sexual encounters, a practice that happened over many years and in different locations. However, he was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have put him behind bars for life.
“Why did it happen so long?” U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian asked as he handed down the sentence. “Because you had the power and the resources to keep it going, and because you weren’t caught.”
In a final word before sentencing, Combs called his years of behavior “disgusting, shameful” and “sick,” while apologizing to the people he hurt physically and mentally, as well as his children in the audience. He said his acts of domestic violence are a burden he will have to carry for the rest of his life.
His defense lawyers played an 11-minute video in court Friday portraying Combs’ family life, career and philanthropy before his arrest. At one point during the video, Combs put a hand on his face and began to cry, his shoulders at times heaving.
His nearly two-month trial in a federal court in Manhattan featured testimony from women who said Combs beat, threatened, sexually assaulted and blackmailed them. Prosecutor Christy Slavik told the judge that sparing Combs serious prison time would excuse years of violence.
“It’s a case about a man who did horrible things to real people to satisfy his own sexual gratification,” she said. “He didn’t need the money. His currency was control.”
Combs was convicted under the Mann Act, which bans transporting people across state lines for prostitution. Defense attorney Jason Driscoll argued the law was misapplied.
Slavik also blasted Combs for allegedly booking speaking gig in South Florida next week, calling it “the height of hubris.” Defense lawyer Xavier Donaldson later said the proposed community events were meant to show what the business mogul could be doing “if the court let Mr. Combs out.”
Several of Combs children pleaded with him for leniency.
His daughters Chance and D’Lila Combs cried as they spoke, with D’Lila saying she feared losing her father after the death of their mother, Kim Porter, in 2018. Six of Combs’ seven children addressed the judge.
“Please, your honor, please,” D’Lila said through tears, “give our family the chance to heal together, to rebuild, to change, to move forward, not as a headline, but as human beings.”
Outside the courthouse, journalists and onlookers swarmed the sidewalks as TV crews stood in a long row across the street, echoing scenes from Combs’ trial.
During testimony at the trial, former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura told jurors that Combs ordered her to have “disgusting” sex with strangers hundreds of times during their decade-long relationship. Jurors saw video of him dragging and beating her in a Los Angeles hotel hallway after one such multiday “freak-off.
Another woman, identified as “ Jane,” testified she was pressured into sex with male workers during drug-fueled “hotel nights” while Combs watched and sometimes filmed.
The only accuser scheduled to speak Friday, a former assistant known as “Mia,” withdrew after defense objections. She has accused Combs of raping her in 2010 and asked the judge for a sentence that reflects “the ongoing danger my abuser poses.”
Prosecutors also introduced testimony at the trial about other alleged violence. One of Cassie’s friends said Combs dangled her from 17th-floor balcony. Rapper Kid Cudi said Combs broke into his home after learning he was dating Cassie.
Another lawyer for Combs, Brian Steel, urged the judge to see the case through the prism of the “untreated trauma” and “ferocious drug addiction” that he says contributed to the hip-hop mogul’s misconduct.
“His good outweighs his bad, by far,” Steel said.
In a letter to the judge Thursday, Combs wrote: “The old me died in jail and a new version of me was reborn,” promising he would never commit another crime.
Cassie, in her own letter, described him as an abuser who “will always be the same cruel, power-hungry, manipulative man that he is.”
At a hearing last week, Combs told his mother and children he was “getting closer to going home.” (AP)

Sean “Diddy” Combs was sentenced Friday to four years and two months in prison for transporting people across state lines for sexual encounters, capping a sordid federal case that featured

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October 3, 2025
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Jonathan: Buhari Was Boko Haram’s Preferred Negotiator, Yet Insurgency Persisted in His Tenure

Former President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday revealed that his successor, the late former President Muhammadu Buhari, was the preferred choice of Boko Haram terrorists to negotiate with the government during his tenure as Nigeria’s President.

He also noted that the issue of Boko Haram was far more complex than often presented.

Jonathan made the disclosure during the public presentation of a book titled Scars, authored by the former Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor (Rtd) in Abuja.

Speaking at the official unveiling of the book, Jonathan recalled that his administration established several committees to explore peaceful solutions to the Boko Haram insurgency.

He recounted that during one of those processes, the terrorist group had nominated Buhari as their preferred negotiator.

“I felt it would have been easier for him, when he became President, to negotiate with them to surrender — but they still persisted,” he said.

He continued: “During one of the committee sessions, Boko Haram nominated Buhari to lead their team in negotiations with the government. So I thought, if they had nominated him, then when he took over as President, it could have provided an easier path to engage them and get them to lay down their arms. But the insurgency persisted.”

Jonathan said Buhari’s inability to end the insurgency once in office demonstrated that the situation was more complicated than widely believed.

According to him, “If you conduct research and interview people, you’ll only get part of the story — not the full story of Boko Haram. I was there. Boko Haram started in 2009 when I was Vice President. I became President in 2010 and spent five years battling the insurgency until I left office. I thought that after I left, within a reasonable time, General Buhari would wipe them out. But even today, Boko Haram is still there.
The issue is far more complex than it is often presented”.

He stressed the need for a different, less conventional approach to tackling the insurgency.

“It’s not a matter of a single story. As a nation, we must approach the Boko Haram problem differently. I believe one day we’ll overcome it.
I want to thank General Irabor for documenting these events — I always appreciate those who write clearly about national issues.
That way, when we write our own accounts, we can draw from such documentation. I also believe that all military officers involved in the Boko Haram crisis should share what the group truly stood for,” he said.

Jonathan also emphasised that the insurgency could not be solely attributed to poverty or hunger, pointing out that his administration had tried various strategies that failed to yield results.

He said, “If it were only about hunger — because we tried different approaches — I don’t want to sound like I’m defending my administration. History will judge that when we document our own accounts. But I believe we did our best. We set up committees and explored multiple options during the five years I was in office. I believe the late President Buhari also did his best. Now, with the Defence Minister here and the service chiefs represented, I believe the government must adopt a slightly different approach. God willing, we will be able to resolve this crisis.”

Reflecting on his presidency, Jonathan said the 2014 abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls remains a permanent scar on his administration.

He expressed hope that, in the future, some leaders of the insurgent group might document their experiences — much like key figures from the Nigerian Civil War — to provide a clearer understanding of their motivations.

Jonathan explained, “One of the major scars on my government — and it will remain with me, as Bishop Kukah said, no plastic or cosmetic surgeon can remove it — is the issue of the Chibok girls. It is a scar I will die with. But perhaps, later, more details may emerge — and that too relates to Boko Haram. What did they really want? Our chairman once raised the issue when he interviewed some of them, and they offered certain perspectives. I pray that one day, some of the Boko Haram leaders may become literate enough to document what they have done, so people can truly understand their objectives. It’s similar to how participants in the Nigerian Civil War later wrote about their roles.”

Jonathanurged the current administration to consider adopting a carrot-and-stick approach to tackle the insurgency that has lasted for over a decade.

He said: “The issue of the carrot and the stick may need to be adopted. Yes, there may be unmet needs, but if you look at the weapons they use—and assess their value—you will realise that these are not hungry people.
Soldiers who sometimes recover these weapons can see for themselves: the insurgents often have more ammunition than our troops. So, where are these sophisticated weapons coming from? You begin to see that external hands are also involved—especially during my time as President.”

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu praised General Lucky Irabor(Rtd) for demonstrating that effective military leadership goes beyond firepower and includes intellectual capacity.

He recalled that as Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, General Irabor confronted a significant national security threat with determination and pragmatism.

Represented by the Minister of Defence, Badaru Abubakar, the President noted that former CDS mastered the complex nature of coalition warfare by harmonising four national armies to secure the Lake Chad region during his tenure as Commander of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF).

President Tinubu added that General Irabor’s book, Scar! Nigeria’s Journey and the Boko Haram Conundrum, is more than a historical account—it offers guidance for the present and a roadmap for the future.

“A scar tells a story. It reminds us of pain, but it also proves that survival is possible. Therefore, the scars we carry as a nation are evidence of our resilience,” he said.

Chairman of the occasion and former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, said investigations into the Boko Haram insurgency revealed that the group is largely driven by the search for a better life.

He urged the current administration to confront the threat posed by Boko Haram decisively, warning that failure to do so could allow it to grow into an unmanageable force.

He said: “As I noted partly in my foreword, this is the first time we are hearing directly from an insider—an eyewitness—speaking candidly, based on his knowledge and understanding, about Boko Haram and the insecurity we’ve faced for over 15 years under four administrations.”

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