Hunger, poverty, malnutrition ravages NE Nigeria: official

Nigeria is at war with hunger, poverty and malnutrition in restive northeastern states following the activities of Boko Haram in the area, an official has said.

Senator Ali Ndume, who is representing Borno South Senatorial zone, disclosed this on Saturday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, the nation's capital city.

"We are crying out, we are looking up to you to help us in the northeast particularly, in Borno, the aftermath of the insurgency, which is almost over, is the issue of hunger, poverty and malnutrition," he added.

"For three years our people who mostly depended on subsistence farming, did not go to their farms, and government alone cannot feed the whole North East or Borno state alone, and that is our greatest challenge," the Senator said.

He appealed to well-meaning individuals, non-governmental agencies and the international community to help address the situation in the North East.

According to him, current efforts by the government to tackle insurgency had been yielding positive results, adding that immediate measures should be taken by stakeholders to ameliorate the suffering of the people in the zone.

The senator told reporters that the fight against Boko Haram, with the determination and seriousness from this government, is almost over.

The Borno State has been a stronghold of the extremist group Boko Haram and has been frequently raided in the past six years. In past months, The Nigerian government has launched several military operations to eliminate the terrorist threat.

Boko Haram, which seeks to impose strict Islamic law in northern Nigeria, has been blamed for some 20,000 deaths and displacing of more than 2.6 million people since 2009. Endit