The United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Mohamed Malick Fall, Tuesday, said over 30 million people across Nigeria are at risk of acute food insecurity.
He said many are mothers who are forced to forgo meals to feed their children, adding that families are forced to flee conflict areas adding that people are grappling with poverty.
He stated this in Abuja at the 2025 launch of the lean season plan for Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states and added that they estimate that 4.6 million people will be at the risk of food insecurity soon.
He stated that in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, 1 million children under the age of five are at risk of life-threatening severe acute malnutrition.
He added that this is double the number of children that were impacted last year and more than a quadrupling in less than five years.
“The threat to their young lives could not have come at a worse time. Lifesaving programmes are shrinking or closing altogether due to dramatic cuts in funding for humanitarian operations.
“A lot of capacity has disappeared, and we are now only focusing on lifesaving activities and our ability to deliver. Everything that is in the plan is strictly lifesaving compared to previous years.
“The gains that we have made in the last few years in preventing malnutrition and increasing our joint capacity to treat malnourished children is being wiped out.
“Our ability to save these children is hampered by the lack of resources.
In Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, 70 per cent of health service provision and 50 per cent of nutrition services have been affected,” he said.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda, said in the upcoming lean season, projections showed that millions are at risk of severe food insecurity, with many children facing the specter of malnutrition, some acutely.
She said behind every data point is a mother skipping meals so her children can eat, a farmer whose fields are dry and unsafe, and a child whose physical and cognitive development is already compromised by hunger.
“This is not just a humanitarian issue, it is a moral one. It is a challenge to the promise of the Renewed Hope Agenda. And it is a test of our capacity to act not when it is convenient, but when it is necessary,’ she said.