Humanitarian bodies warn that as many as 4.4m Nigerians face the threat of hunger

HUMANITARIAN organisations have warned that as many as 4.4m Nigerians face the threat of severe hunger in Nigeria this year mainly as a result of the Boko Haram crisis that has caused widespread displacement in the northeast of the country.

 

Latest assessments by 15 such organisations have revealed that the ongoing conflict with Boko Haram has pushed the number of people facing the threat of severe hunger across West Africa to more than 6m. This warning came as governments and donors met to talk about the humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad Basin region at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York last Friday, September 23.

 

According to the assessment over 65,000 people are already living in famine in pockets of northeast Nigeria, and over 1m people are one step away from famine. It added that in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, 6.3m people are severely food insecure, of which 4.4m are in Nigeria.

 

At the recent UN meeting, delegates revised their appeal for the region calling for $559m until the end of the year to meet the emergency needs caused by the crisis. Organisations say that without more money, they are unable to reach the most vulnerable people even in areas that can be accessed.

 

Nigeria’s country director of Action Against Hunger, Yannick Pouchalan said: “What we are seeing are families teetering on the edge of famine. If organisations can’t reach communities in areas trapped by the conflict, we will be looking at a far greater disaster than we are currently facing.

 

“Many of those arriving in camps are already severely malnourished. We see families who have not eaten for days, many are begging for food and if the situation continues to deteriorate, many more people may die.”

 

He added that on some areas of Borno State, the rate of acute malnutrition in children under five is over 50%, similar to what was seen during the 2011 crisis in Somalia when the scale and severity of hunger led to a declaration of famine. Mr Pouchalan noted that the conflict and military operations to counter it, has meant that farmland, rivers and lakes that people rely on for growing food and fishing are off limits as part of military operations in Nigeria, Niger and Chad. 

 

He added that markets have been closed and people’s means of transport, such as motorbikes, have been banned, cutting people off from their ways of making a living. In Nigeria alone, the organisations are looking for over $143m until the end of the year to provide life-saving support such as food, water, shelter and safety but they are struggling to secure the funding and scale up their activities.

 

Lisa Bay, of Oxfam’s Lake Chad Basin’s Operational Lead, said: “Civilians have paid a high price for policies of cutting off Boko Haram’s food and supplies. People should be able to fish, farm and sell their goods at markets as we have seen hugely generous communities welcome people who have fled their homes but now they have nothing to give."