The ongoing international donor conference on Boko Haram holding in Berlin, Germany has pledged the sum of $2.52 billion to help countries in the Lake Chad Basin in the fight against insurgency and militancy.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the aid would be disbursed ‘in the coming years’ to Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, where the insurgents have continued to launch frequent attacks on both civilians and the military.

The two-day conference which is being attended by more than 70 states, international and non-governmental organizations, had last year raised over $672 million for the same cause.

Mark Lowcock, head of the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, said the donation would help in delivering life-saving humanitarian assistance throughout the Lake Chad Basin.

Lowcock said although  famine was averted in the region in 2017 largely due to international aid, millions of people in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon were still in dire need of help.

The UN humanitarian chief however cautioned that the crisis was not over as according to him, there were still over 10 million people who need life-saving assistance.

“A quarter of the people we are trying to reach are displaced from their homes and the only means of staying alive they have is what is provided by humanitarian organizations,” Lowcock said at the conference which focuses on humanitarian assistance, civilian protection, crisis prevention and stabilization for the Chad Basin region.