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UN agency raises alarm about emergency in northeast Nigeria

Xinhua, October 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

The UN Children's Agency (UNICEF) on Friday warned that the situation in northeast Nigeria is an emergency that is attracting very little attention, despite the scale of the needs, a UN spokesman told reporters here.

The UN spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said at a daily news briefing here that 1.8 million people are internally displaced in the region, 4.4 million people are living in emergency situations and more than 400,000 children suffer from severe and acute malnutrition.

"UN humanitarian agencies continue to face challenges to operate in the region as they don't have full access to large areas of northeast Nigeria and it is hard for humanitarian workers on the ground to access people in need," the spokesman said.

They also face funding problems as UNICEF has only received 25 percent of the funds required for its operations in the country in 2016, while the World Food Programme (WFP) needs 30 million U.S. dollars to continue its activities in the next six months, he added.

An estimated 400,000 children under five will suffer from severe acute malnutrition in three states across northeastern Nigeria this year. More than four million people are facing severe food shortages and 65,000 people are living in famine-like conditions, mostly in the Nigerian state of Borno, the worst affected state.

Since the beginning of 2016, 2.6 million conflict-affected people have been given access to UNICEF-supported preventative healthcare services and nearly 75,000 children have been treated for severe acute malnutrition in northeast Nigeria.

The construction and rehabilitation of boreholes has provided nearly half a million people with improved access to safe water. Safe learning spaces, teacher training and educational supplies have helped over 72,000 children to restart their education and some 133,000 children have been provided with psychosocial support.

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. Enditem