The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, has said that it needs about a billion dollar this year to assist women and children in northeastern Nigeria who are on the verge of starving to death.
The UN warned that about 5.5million women and children were in dire need of food aid especially in three states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe owing to the rising cases of insecurity, flooding and drought due to climate change that have combined into a powerful force that is upending lives in the region, where farming is their main source of livelihood.
A report on Friday by Reuters quoted John Mukisa, a nutrition sector coordinator for UN agencies, as giving the warning while speaking with the press saying that no fewer than 5,000 children in war-ravaged northeastern Nigeria will die of starvation in the next two months unless the world raises the necessary funds for intervention.
“Up to 5,000 children in Nigeria’s North-East are at risk of dying in the next two months if funding does not come through,” said Mukisa.
The OCHA, according to the report, said it had raised only 42 per cent of the required funds eight months into the year, quoting a briefing to reporters.
It added that while some international donors may have shifted funding elsewhere, including Ukraine, Ethiopia and Afghanistan, which are also facing increased humanitarian needs, donors should not lose sight of the case in Nigeria.