By Milcah Tanimu

The United Nations’ top humanitarian official in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, has highlighted the dire situation of severe hunger affecting 4.3 million people in Nigeria’s Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states. In a press briefing in Geneva on Wednesday, Schmale expressed deep concern, noting that the number of children under five facing life-threatening severe acute malnutrition had doubled within a year, reaching 700,000.

Schmale, who has visited the affected states multiple times, described witnessing mothers desperately struggling to save the lives of their malnourished children in nutrition stabilisation centers. He emphasized the heartbreaking reality faced by parents who cannot ensure their children have enough food to eat.

The primary causes of this “catastrophic” situation, according to Schmale, are more than a decade of insecurity stemming from non-state armed groups, which hinder farming activities and livelihoods. Additionally, climate change and extreme weather events have exacerbated the crisis, with last year’s severe floods affecting over 4.4 million people across the country, not limited to the North-East region.

Rising food prices, along with increased costs of fuel and fertilizers, have further worsened the situation. Tragically, the response to this crisis remains severely underfunded, with only 25% of the required $1.3 billion in humanitarian funding secured for the region.

The urgent need to address this humanitarian crisis and provide adequate support is critical to alleviate the suffering of millions of Nigerians affected by hunger and malnutrition in these regions.