According to the UN’s resident coordinator, the humanitarian agency is facing significant challenges in securing the necessary funding to combat the severe food shortages, which threaten to cause widespread hunger and potentially fatal consequences.
In April, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Nigerian government jointly launched a $306 million appeal.
This initiative aims to assist 2.8 million people in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states—areas hit hardest by a 15-year Islamist insurgency. The appeal specifically targets the lean season, the period when food scarcity is at its peak.
Mohamed Malick Fall, head of OCHA, stated that despite Nigeria’s initial commitment of $11 million and an additional $11 million from the UN’s central pool, achieving the funding target has been challenging due to hesitancy among international donors.
“We are far from where we want to be,” Fall stated. “Even beyond the lean season, we have noticed that humanitarian assistance to Nigeria is shrinking.” He expects to receive just $300 million this year, a sharp decrease from the $500 million obtained last year, citing the economic effects of COVID-19 on major donors as the primary cause for the decline.
Additionally, new crises in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan have emerged, making it difficult to maintain the same level of funding.
The situation is exacerbated by Nigeria’s most severe cost-of-living crisis in decades, with inflation surpassing 33% and food prices rising over 40%. Without immediate intervention, Fall warns that the consequences of food insecurity in Nigeria’s northeast could be “catastrophic.”
UNICEF data from April indicates that over 120,000 children have already been admitted for treatment of severe acute malnutrition in the region, surpassing the annual target of about 90,000.
“The cost of inaction has many folds,” Fall emphasized, “with the most pressing being an excess mortality among children.”
The UN continues to call for urgent international support to prevent a humanitarian disaster in northeastern Nigeria.
