By Adedapo Adesanya
The number of children in Nigeria facing hunger jumped 25 per cent with one in six or 15.6 million at high risk, according to a new analysis by Save the Children.
According to Save the Children’s analysis of figures released by the Cadre Harmonisé – a regional framework to identify food and nutrition insecurity in the Sahel and West Africa — almost 32 million people in Nigeria, including 15.6 million children, will face crisis levels of hunger between June and August unless food and cash assistance are received.
The number of hungry children is 25 per cent higher than the same period in 2023 and is likely the result of increasing insecurity, protracted conflict, banditry and rising food prices in the country.
Save the Children, according to a statement on Tuesday, said that while these months between harvests are when hunger typically peaks in Nigeria, a quarter more children are set to go hungry compared to 2023. This suggests that over 3.4 million additional children – on average 9,000 a day – have been plunged into hunger in the last year.
According to the Association of Nigerian Farmers, so far this year at least 165 farmers across Nigeria have been killed, mostly in Benue in the country’s north-central region which the UN has said is an emerging hotspot for farmer and herder conflict.
Violent killings, attacks and kidnappings by non-state armed groups and bandits in the country’s north have affected food production, disrupted local markets and caused farmers to flee their farms.
Hunger has risen sharply in Nigeria in recent years, up from about 7 per cent of the population analysed by the UN in 2020 to 15 per cent currently. At least 490,000 children – mostly in Borno and Katsina – are expected to face catastrophic levels of hunger (classed as IPC4).
Under the IPC scale, Phase 3 is a crisis, Phase 4 is an emergency, and Phase 5 is used for when the situation is reaching famine-like conditions — the worst scenario categorised by starvation, death, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels.
Speaking on this development, Mr Duncan Harvey, Save the Children’s Country Director for Nigeria, said, “An already dire hunger situation in the country is gradually going from bad to worse as violence, insecurity and rising prices combine to leave over 15 million children hungry in Nigeria. Hunger exists nationwide, but the situation in the north where violence is rife is particularly dire. In Borno, Yobe, Katsina and Zamfara, one in three children do not know where their next meal will come from.
“Children in Nigeria – who make up one of the largest child populations in the world – have already endured far too much, as millions face conflict, violence and exploitation. This year one in six children will go hungry – an increase from last year.”
Save the Children also called upon the Nigerian government at local, state and national levels to focus on transforming food production and distribution and to incentivise farmers to grow crops that are resistant to climate change.
“Urgent action must be taken to prioritise the needs of children to stop this devastating trend and protect innocent lives. If not, armed groups will continue to carry out brutal attacks, drive up food prices, and push more families to starvation,” he added.