Northern Nigeria one of world’s ‘highest alert hunger hotspots’ -Report
Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) mostly men queue while waiting to be served with food at Dikwa Camp, in Borno State in north-eastern Nigeria, on February 2, 2016. The National Emergency Management Agency in collaboration with Borno State Emergency Management Agency has set up new IDP camps in Ngala, Marte, Bama and Mafa councils to decongest the growing population of IDP camp set up at Dikwa council of Borno State. Nigeria expects many of the 2.1 million people internally displaced by Boko Haram's insurgency to return home in the coming year, amid claims the Islamists are in disarray and a spent force. / AFP PHOTO / STRINGER
The World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organisation have listed northern Nigeria as one of the world’s newest ‘highest alert hunger hotspots.’
The global agencies say that in the next four months, conflict, COVID-19 and the climate crisis are likely to increase hunger in Nigeria and 22 other countries.
Ms. Eri Kaneko, the Associate spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, said this while briefing correspondents at the UN headquarters on Friday in New York, on a new report released by the two UN agencies.
Kaneko said Ethiopia and Madagascar were the world’s newest “highest alert” hunger hotspots, according to the report.
“The highest alert list also includes South Sudan, Yemen, and northern Nigeria. In some areas of these countries, significant numbers of people are at risk of falling into famine.
“The report flags other countries where life-threatening hunger is on the rise. They include Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Honduras, Sudan, and Syria,’’ she said.
According to her, WFP and FAO say humanitarian action is urgently needed to prevent hunger, famine and death in all the 23 hotspots.
In a statement, the UN agencies warned that efforts to fight a global surge in acute food insecurity were being stymied in several countries by fighting and blockades that cut off life-saving aid to families on the brink of famine.
“Bureaucratic obstacles, as well as a lack of funding, also hamper the two UN agencies’ efforts to provide emergency food assistance and enable farmers to plant at scale and at the right time.
“This is of grave concern as conflict, the economic repercussions of COVID-19 and the climate crisis are expected to drive higher levels of acute food insecurity in 23 hunger hotspots over the next four months’’, it stated.
FAO and WFP have already warned that 41 million people were at risk of falling into famine unless they received immediate food and livelihood assistance.
“2020 saw 155 million people facing acute food insecurity at Crisis or worse levels in 55 countries, and according to the Global Report on Food Crises, an increase of more than 20 million from 2019 – and the trend is only expected to worsen this year.
“The vast majority of those on the verge are farmers. Alongside food assistance, we must do all we can to help them resume food production themselves so that families and communities can move back towards self-sufficiency and not just depend on aid to survive,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu.
“That’s difficult without access, and without adequate funding – and so far, support to agriculture as key means of preventing widespread famine remains largely overlooked by donors, unfortunately.
“Without such support to agriculture, humanitarian needs will keep skyrocketing, that’s inevitable.
“Families that rely on humanitarian assistance to survive are hanging by a thread. When we cannot reach them that thread is cut, and the consequences are nothing short of catastrophic,” warned David Beasley, WFP Executive Director.
The report highlights that conflict, climate extremes and economic shocks – often related to the economic fallout of COVID-19 – will likely remain primary drivers of acute food insecurity for the August-November 2021 period.
It said transboundary threats was an aggravating factor in some regions, in particular, desert locust infestations in the Horn of Africa and African migratory locust in Southern Africa require continued monitoring and vigilance.
It said humanitarian access constraints were another severe aggravating factor that hampers efforts to curb food crises and prevent starvation, death and a total collapse of livelihoods, increasing the risk of famine.
“Countries currently facing most significant obstacles preventing aid from reaching those who need it most include Afghanistan, Ethiopia, the Central African Republic, Mali, Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
“The road to Zero Hunger isn’t paved with conflict, checkpoints and red tape.
“Humanitarian access isn’t some abstract concept – it means authorities approving paperwork in time so that food can be moved swiftly.
“It means checkpoints allow trucks to pass and reach their destination, it means humanitarian responders are not targeted, so they are able to carry out their life and livelihood-saving work,” Beasley said.
