A number of displaced families in Nigeria’s northeast are on the verge of starvation, the UN World Food Program said on Friday.
As more than one million children already struggle with malnourishment, the WFP may have to cut rations to more than half a million women, men and children in northeast Nigeria by the end of October for lack of funding.
The Covid-19 pandemic drove up food prices and limited supply, additionally, the number of internally displace people surpassed two million in September, WFP spokesperson Tomson Phiri said.
“We are facing very severe levels of hunger that we have witnessed since, this is probably the highest that we are witnessing since the crisis exploded in 2016. Approximately 4.4 million people are facing acute food insecurity in the conflict-affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe,” Phiri added on the WFP’s website.
Amidst the socio-economic fallout from COVID-19, high food prices and limited food supply, WFP’s Regional Director for West Africa Chris Nikoi observed during a recent visit that “cutting rations means choosing who gets to eat and who goes to bed hungry”.
The WFP has been providing food and nutrition assistance to vulnerable people for five years.
However, to sustain humanitarian operations in northeast Nigeria, the WFP will need around USD200 million.
“We must act now to save lives and avoid disruptions to this lifeline”, Regional Director Nikoi said.
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