The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, has said that $250 million (N62.5 billion) US is required to address the food crisis in the insurgency affected Northeast. The 12-year conflict has claimed over 36,000 lives with destruction of property worth $9.2 billion (N3.42 trillion) in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. “We are grateful to our donors and partners for their generous support to avert hunger in the region,” he said. According to him, the UN and other partners’ operational plan sets out the requirement of USD$250 million for immediate action. “We desperately need the funding now to urgently save lives,” said Kallon.
Speaking after his four-day visits to insurgency affected states in an interview with journalists at the weekend in Maiduguri, he disclosed: “About 4.4 million people were in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states,” warning that hunger is on the rise worldwide. According to him; the combination of conflict, COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and the impact of climate change are decimating the livelihoods of people. He lamented that people are denied access to food in their respective communities. He noted that unless these are addressed urgently, there will be continued levels of food insecurity that could lead to deteriorating catastrophic conditions.“Millions of people are at risk,” he warned, fearing that the outlook in the Northeast is dire.
He said without sustained humanitarian assistance in the three insurgency affected states, millions of people will continue to struggle to feed themselves during the 2021 critical lean season. The March, 2021 Cadre Harmonisé food security assessment, also estimated that 4.4 million people, including internally displaced people, are expected to face critical food shortages. According to the UN coordinator, about 775,000 people are at extreme risk of catastrophic food insecurity. “This is the worst outlook in four years,” laments Kallon at the 20th meeting of the Joint Planning Board and National Council on Development Planning. The three-day economic summit was organised by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Borno state government.
Continuing, he added: “We’ve joined efforts to address the rapidly deteriorating food insecurity situation in the north-east,” as well as working closely with the Government of Nigeria at Federal and State levels. He noted that the situation may likely worsen as the rainy season sets in.
He warned that if diseases like cholera and malaria were not prevented or controlled, G-7 countries had recently given their commitment to assist and the UN would follow up for results. ”We are grateful to our donors and partners for their generous support. Our operational plan sets out the requirement of USD$250 million for immediate action. We desperately need the funding now to urgently save lives,” Kallon said. Kallon also spoke to participants at the 20th edition of Joint Planning Board and National Council on Development Planning meeting.
