Geneva — U.N. agencies are warning that the food security and nutrition crises in northeastern Nigeria have reached alarming new heights and that swift global action is needed to head off a catastrophic outcome.
Matthias Schmale, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, last briefed international donors a year ago on the critical situation in the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.
"Unfortunately, one year on, the situation has in many respects worsened," he said Wednesday in Geneva. He said in just one year, the estimated number of people needing humanitarian assistance has increased by 500,000 to 6 million and the number of people facing severe hunger also climbed, to 4.3 million, with more than half a million living on the verge of famine.
Additionally, he said, "The number of children under 5 at risk of life-threatening severe acute malnutrition has doubled to 700,000 this year compared to last year," noting that "this number is four times what it was in 2021."
Cristian Munduate, UNICEF country representative in Nigeria, called these figures alarming. She said these children need immediate therapeutic help in health facilities or face the risk of death.
Unfortunately, she said, health facilities will run out of the supplies they need by September if new funding does not materialize.
"We need to add that water and sanitation is a huge priority because we cannot have these malnourished children getting sick with infection -- intestinal infections, worms, diarrhea, because these accelerate the deterioration of their health," she said.
U.N. officials agree that the crisis is primarily the result of a 13-year conflict triggered by the rise of Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
They say that the insecurity that persists in the region prevents many people from farming their land and earning an income to support their families, thereby increasing their dependence on international aid for survival.
The United Nations reports the peak of the lean season from June to August, when food stocks are at their lowest, will be particularly difficult for millions of people in the northeastern states.
Given this dire situation, Schmale said he and his team left their base in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, to come to Geneva and drum up support from U.N. member states for a "prioritized six-month lean season plan."
He explained that the plan, which is part of the U.N.'s overall $1.3 billion Humanitarian Response Plan for northeast Nigeria, "is seeking $396 million to help 2.8 million people."
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"The affected people urgently need increased funding so that severely malnourished children can be treated, and more children prevented from falling sick," Schmale said. "The affected people also need unfettered access to humanitarian services wherever they are."
He noted that the lean season plan so far is only 38% funded and that the Humanitarian Response appeal "is only 25% funded at mid-year."
The World Food Program had hoped to assist 4.3 million people who are struggling to put food on their table.
David Stevenson, WFP country director in Nigeria, said money was so tight that 1.5 million people had to be cut off WFP's list of beneficiaries, although they too are needy.
"And those were hard choices of prioritization based on those that are most affected by the conflict, those that are most affected by the floods and inflation," he said Wednesday.
"Already, we have people coming to our offices saying, you know, they are hungry, they are extremely hungry and people appealing on their behalf."
And, he said, "We are turning them away."
