The United Nations is warning that Nigeria is seriously on the verge of a
famine that is worse than that ever seen anywhere in the world,
according to a report by Sky News.
The report attributed to UN’s
assistant Secretary-General Toby Lanzer said currently, about a quarter
of a million children in the north-eastern part of Nigeria are severely
malnourished.
While this is so, millions of other children are
supposedly starving in refugee camps ‘that are too dangerous for aid
agencies to reach.’
“Nigeria is already economically struggling –
it is in a recession for the first time in more than a decade,
inflation is at an 11-year high and oil, which makes up 70 percent of
the government’s revenue, is still suffering from a slump.
“For the
country’s north eastern region, however, things are made worse by
Islamic militants Boko Haram, who have disrupted trade and farming in
the region and are also hostile to western medicine,” the report said.
According to Mr Lanzer, “we will see, I think, a famine unlike any we have ever seen anywhere” if nothing urgent was done.
There
are around a million people in Maiduguri’s camps – most of them fleeing
the reach of the terrorist group – and many of them are also struggling
with hunger.
“For the country’s north eastern region, however,
things are made worse by Islamic militants Boko Haram, who have
disrupted trade and farming in the region and are also hostile to
western medicine,” the report said.
There had been several
reports that food and other materials meant for the displaced persons in
camps are stolen by government officials deployed to care for them.
The government is currently investigating this claim.
Meanwhile,
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has revealed that it was funding
six agricultural commodities value chains with emphasis on rice
production.