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Call for action in Northern Nigeria as 5.8 million urgently require life-saving assistance

Countries
Nigeria
Sources
FSNWG
Publication date

West and Central Africa Regional Food Security and Nutrition Working Group (August 2016)

Background and Access Acute malnutrition and food insecurity represent long-term structural problems in Northern Nigeria.
However, the fragile nutrition situation among the most vulnerable population has, over the last three years, translated into a complex crisis as a result of the Boko Haram armed conflict. Since May 2013, the Boko Haram conflict has destroyed infrastructure such as health clinics, dramatically eroded livelihoods and triggered the displacement of over 2 million people, out of which 1.4 million people are in Borno State (IOM, DTM June 2016). Displacements and restricted access to fields and pastures have led to the loss of productive assets, including of basic agricultural inputs. This is of major concern as the majority of crisis-hit populations rely on farming, cattle breeding, fishing, and trading activities for their food and income.

The current economic crisis in Nigeria is further fueling the complex emergency. Households face high food prices due to the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira and removal of the fuel subsidy. With food prices increasing without corresponding wage increases and with disruption to income generation, household purchasing power is deteriorating.

Large proportions of households have exhausted their resources and are in an increasingly precarious situation. In Kano (north central Nigeria), millet prices are nearly 80 percent higher than this time last year, and the value of sorghum has more than doubled since May of last year.

As a result, food insecurity is widespread across Northern Nigeria and over 5.8 million people are in crisis and in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

While most Northern states in Nigeria are fully accessible, humanitarian access remains extremely limited in some areas of Borno State and insecurity is impacting on the functioning of many markets. It is estimated that 2.2 million people in Borno cannot be reached by humanitarian actors due to the security situation. On July 28, 2016, an attack on a United Nations aid convoy traveling from Bama to Maiduguri in Borno State injured 2 aid workers and demonstrated the ongoing risks and complexity of providing humanitarian assistance.

Since April 2016, 15 previously inaccessible local government areas (LGAs) in Borno and Yobe have opened up, enabling humanitarian needs assessments to take place. According to the Government of Nigeria, approximately 750,000 people in these newly accessible areas have urgent unmet humanitarian needs.