4.5m Nigerians Starving In Northeast – UN Declares

4.5m Nigerians Starving In Northeast – UN Declares

FRIDAY EKEOBA

The United Nations has declared that about 4.5 million people are starving and are in dire need of food aid in the Boko Haram plagued Northeast Nigeria.

“All indications point to an extremely grave situation,” Abdou Dieng, the UN agency’s Regional Director for West Africa declared on Tuesday.

“As the rains set in and the lean season deepens, and more areas are opened up to access humanitarian aid, the full scale of hunger and devastation is likely to come to light.

Reports by various UN agencies including the World Food Program (WFP) revealed that this figure continues to double adding that the number of people struggling with severe food shortage in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, has risen fourfold since March to exceed one million.

The reports also estimated that at least 65,000 newly liberated people in inaccessible areas of Borno and Yobe are facing famine-like conditions.

Although, some Internally Displaced People (IDPs) are returning to their natural homes, they have find them uninhabitable and are therefore forced to return to the urban areas again as IDPs.

“These families have to beg, get in debts or skip meals to survive. Many now eat only once a day,” it stated.

“Also, if the Nigeria’s economy continues to sink, this could push the number of people in need of food assistance in the northeast by another million by September.”