Displaced Families in Nigeria 'Knocking On Door of Starvation’

The World Food Program has warned that it will be forced to cut food rations for half-a-million people suffering from acute hunger in northeast Nigeria unless it receives urgently needed funding. Millions of people in Nigeria's crisis-ridden Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states are suffering from years of conflict and insecurity and the socio-economic fallout from Covid-19.

Displaced families in Nigeria's northeast are "knocking on the door of starvation", the UN World Food Programme. Tomson Phiri, WFP spokesman has revealed that over one million children are already malnourished.  "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 further stated that the Covid-19 pandemic had raised food costs and reduced food supplies and the number of internally displaced people had exceeded two million in the month of September. 

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".

For five years, WFP has been providing life-saving food and nutrition assistance to the severely food insecure, displaced families in camps, and to vulnerable people living in host communities. Insecurity and conflict have plagued north-east Nigeria for almost 12 years, causing millions of people to feel the pain of hunger. Covid-19 has only exacerbated the situation, causing economic shocks that have affected families' ability to access or purchase food. The UN and its humanitarian partners are working around the clock to ensure that families have enough food to survive.