The United Nations has warned that Nigeria’s economic slowdown, compounded by Boko Haram attacks, could mean 5.5 million people are in need of food aid in the northeast region by September.
According to the U.N. refugee agency, the successes of the Nigerian military against the militants has exposed catastrophic levels of suffering and a vast regional crisis.
It expressed worries that many of the persons affected by the over six years of insurgency had been out of reach of humanitarian help for months or years.
The push by Nigerian Government forces in cooperation with the Multi-National Joint Task Force has rolled back gains by the militants, whose insurgency has displaced more than two million people.
“At present, and with the military campaign still in progress, the situation is shifting and remains dangerous and volatile,” the UNHCR spokesperson, Adrian Edwards, told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday.
“There have been frequent hit and run incidents by militants, including suicide bombings, attacks on civilians, torching of homes, and thefts of livestock,” he added.
“While many areas are still beyond reach, in Borno and Yobe States the picture of suffering is shocking.
“There are numerous reports of human rights violations, including deaths, sexual violence, disappearances, forced recruitment, forced religious conversions and attacks on civilian sites.
“Some 800,000 additional internally displaced people have been identified as needing help.
“Severe malnutrition on a wide scale is being reported, and the needs are growing with each day.
“In Borno State 51,474 people are on our critically vulnerable list, 21,912 of these being children – more than three quarters of whom have lost one or both parents,” he said.
Explaining the difficulty in getting aid to the region, Edwards pointed out that a UN convoy was attacked with an Improvised Explosive Device and gunfire on July 27, resulting in injuries to three aid workers as well as members of the military escort.
“The level of peril and difficulty in delivering life-saving help is high – as, by consequence, are the costs,” he stressed.
The UN observation is coming few days after Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation gave the Borno State government a grant of one million, meant for resettling the Internally Displaced Persons in Borno State.
The intervention was released through the Rebuilding and Reconstruction Ministry of the State, constituted for resettling the IDPs.
