The United Nations World Food Programme warned that it is on the verge of reducing food rations to half a million people in Nigeria’s northeast due to lack of funding.
“The cuts would come just as severe hunger reaches a five-year high in the country in the wake of years of conflict and insecurity,” according to an emailed statement on Friday.
At least $55 million is needed “within weeks” for food supplies to be sustained. This is as the number of displaced people in the region reached an all-time high of 2 million in September. The impact of the Covid-19, rising food prices and declining food supplies have compounded the crisis.
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“Current food security analysis shows that 4.4 million people in northeast Nigeria do not know where their next meal is coming from while over 1 million children are malnourished,” the UN body said.
Nigeria’s northeast region has been plagued by a decade-long Islamic insurgency which has stretched the country’s resources and military. Insecurity in the area has been compounded by bandit attacks in the northwest, disrupting farming and livelihoods.
