James Emejo in Abuja
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) yesterday said about 12.1 million Nigerians faced food crisis adding that 19 per cent of affected households are in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States.
The FAO pointed out that ongoing conflict in the northeast and the lingering economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to drive hunger in the country.
According to its October 2021 Food Security and Nutrition Analysis – known as the Cadre Harmonise (CH), which assessed 20 states, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the number of people in critical or worse phases of food insecurity may increase to about 16.9 million unless efforts are made to scale up and sustain humanitarian support and other government interventions for livelihood recovery and resilience.
The report described a crisis level as a stage at which, even with humanitarian aid, at least one out of five households in the target area is characterised with considerable food consumption deficits and acute malnutrition at high or higher rates than the normal.
The report estimated that in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, which are the most affected by the prolonged armed conflict, 2.4 million people are currently in the crisis phase or worse and required urgent assistance.
These included an estimated 228, 707 people in the emergence phase wherein, even with humanitarian aid, at least one out of five households is either facing extreme food deficits, resulting in high acute malnutrition or excessive mortality, or an extreme loss of assets relating to livelihoods, causing deficits in food consumption in the short term.
The organisation pointed out that the number is projected to increase to 3.5 million people at the peak of the 2022 lean season between June and August, and with the number of people expected to anticipated in the emergency phase’ doubling to 459,847.
The report added that another 13, 551 people are anticipated to experience catastrophe-like conditions in some of the most inaccessible localities, if access to life-saving and livelihood support interventions are not sufficiently scaled up.
It stated that the prolonged armed conflict in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe and banditry in some North-West states, including Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna states, as well as the North-Central states of Benue and Niger – remained the main drivers of the prevailing food insecurity in the country.
Commenting on the study, FAO Representative in Nigeria and Economic Organization of the West African States (ECOWAS), Mr. Fred Kafeero, said millions of Nigerians are struggling to access basic food and non–food needs due to disrupted livelihoods resulting into reduced households income sources.
He said,”As the report has shown, millions of people are currently experiencing difficulties in accessing their basic food and non–food needs due to disrupted livelihoods resulting into reduced households income sources.
“It is important that the government and other stakeholders take immediate actions to mitigate these effects and continuously monitor their drivers.”
Also, Country Director, World Food Programme (WFP), Ronald Sibanda, called for emergency food assistance initiative to ameliorate the impact of the looming food crisis.
