Millions of people in north-east Nigeria are at risk of starvation. The United Nations are calling for humanitarian aid for the most populous country in Africa – and for the world community to finally pay out the promised funds.
According to the United Nations (UN), more and more people are suffering in West African Nigeria. In the north-east of the country, which is threatened by Islamist terrorists, around six million people need humanitarian aid, said the responsible coordinator of the UN emergency aid office in Ocha, Matthias Schmale, in Geneva.
In the northeastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, 4.3 million people face imminent starvation in the months leading up to harvest. 700,000 children under the age of five are at acute risk of life-threatening malnutrition – twice as many as in 2022 and four times as many as in 2021.
Only a quarter of the promised funds were paid out
“This crisis is primarily the result of years of conflict and uncertainty that continue to prevent many people from farming or earning an income,” Schmale said. The economic situation in Africa’s most populous country, with around 260 million people, is further exacerbating the crisis.
The UN emergency aid program called on the world community to pay out planned aid. So far, only 25 percent of the $1.3 billion (€1.2 billion) requested for humanitarian aid to north-eastern Nigeria has been funded.
Jihadists such as the terrorist militia Boko Haram have been carrying out attacks in the north-east of the country for more than a decade. Deadly conflicts are also raging elsewhere in Nigeria. The continent’s once-leading oil producer is short on fuel. The state is heavily indebted, inflation in the country is high.