The United Nations, (UN), has established a Task Force to collaborate with other aid organisations to tackle food insecurity in Northern Nigeria.
The spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, disclosed this yesterday, during a press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York, United States.
The UN said over $1 billion would be needed to implement the Humanitarian Response Plan in northern Nigeria, adding that, of the amount, $250 million is needed to help the hardest-to-reach people to receive food.
According to the official, “Our humanitarian colleagues in Nigeria tell us that we, along with aid organisations in the country, have formed a Task Force to respond to increasing food insecurity in the North-East, which is working with the government to implement a comprehensive plan to address food security, nutrition, health, protection, water, sanitation, and hygiene”.
He added that only one-third of the fund has been raised.
Guterres, who spoke through his deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, said sustained funding would be needed to avert food crisis in the zone.
“Our humanitarian colleagues warned that without sustained funding, millions of people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States in the North-East, will struggle to feed themselves”, he stated.
According to him, an estimated 4.4 million people, including internally displaced persons, are expected to face critical food shortages, with 775,000 people being at extreme risk of catastrophic food insecurity.
“This is the worst outlook in four years. The humanitarian community is working with the government and local authorities to scale up the distribution of food in high-risk areas. But a surge in violence targeting aid workers and assets has made this difficult,” he added.
Recall that Guterres had last Friday said over $1 billion would be needed to implement the humanitarian response plan in northern Nigeria but only one-third of the fund has been raised.
