For what has left over four million people in the northeastern part of Nigeria faced with severe food shortage is nothing but the current devastating effect of insurgency. Apart from the recognized four million, another 65,000 has been left living in famine-like conditions. This was made known by UNICEF in a recent statement made during the week.
UNICEF, which decried Borno state as the “worst affected” in the Boko Haram insurgency, added that, in 2016, an estimated 400,000 children under the age of five will suffer from severe acute malnutrition in three states across the northeast.
The UNICEF Director of Emergency Programmes, Afshan Khan, who expressed his worries by this bitter reality in the northeastern part of Nigeria, stating that children’s lives are literally hanging by a thread, appealed for more support to enable the organization reach out adequately.
To further help provide lifesaving assistance to this vulnerable children in the northeastern part of Nigeria, we appeal to the Nigerian government to revise its humanitarian appeal from US$ 55 million to US$ 115 million” – UNICEF
As new areas open up to humanitarian assistance, the true scale of the Boko Haram related crisis and its impact on children is being revealed. The displaced children across the northeast, the hundreds of thousands which are psychologically affected by the horrors they have lived through, the destruction of health clinics and so many more.
The conflict-related lack of access to children has also led to an outbreak of polio in Borno state, where three cases of wild polio virus were confirmed in August and September.
UNICEF who out of the US$ 115 million appeal since January 2016 till date, has received only US$ 28 million, lamented that the development presents a serious obstacle to their scale up plan.
It is important for the government to quick measures in combating this ongoing situation. No Nigerian citizen must be allowed to starve. Starvation can have adverse effects on an individual’s health. Some of these are:
- Malnutrition
- Loss of energy
- Loss of muscles
- Eating disorders
- Insomnia
- Headache
- Depression
Please answer this question in the comment section below: What more do you think can be done to assist the people living in North-East Nigeria?
