IDP Malnutrition Crisis: UN Begins Food Aid Delivery in Nigeria’s North-East
The United
Nations (UN) on Friday, made the first food aid delivery in response to a
malnutrition crisis in camps for thousands of internally displaced persons
(IDP) in Banki, Borno state.
Internally
displaced persons in Borno state have been facing a malnutrition crisis for
many months which has led to the death of up to 200 displaced persons since
March.
AFP reports that officials from the UN Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Friday delivered 30 tonnes of
“various lifesaving food items.”
The OCHA
officials said the food aid to address the Nigerian IDP malnutrition crisis was
transported from neighbouring Cameroon. The convoy reached Banki on
Thursday and has distributed food to the more than 25,000 people in the town.
“An additional
700 kilograms of supplementary food for malnourished children was airlifted
from the state capital Maiduguri to Banki on the same day,” an OCHA statement
said.
The federal
government has made promises of addressing the malnutrition crisis while civil
society groups have also rallied supplies to donate to the various camps in
Borno and other states in the north-east.
The UN had in
May, expressed concern about the IDP malnutrition crisis. It said up to 9.2
million people living around Lake Chad, which forms the border of Nigeria,
Chad, Cameroon and Niger, were in desperate need of food.
According to the
OCHA, aid distribution in Banki and other areas recently liberated by the
Nigerian military was “scaling up” but more funds were needed to meet the
“lifesaving needs” of people affected by Boko Haram violence in northeast
Nigeria.
It is said that
only 28 percent of the $279 million required by the UN to help those affected
by the violence has been realised, leaving a $200 million shortfall.
Boko Haram’s
insurgency has left at least 20,000 dead in Nigeria and devastated
infrastructure in the northeast. The unrest has also displaced more than 2.6
million people.
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I truly commend their efforts but I'd have to say this is the responsibility of the Nigerian government. We rely too much on foreign aid which in most cases is more detrimental than beneficial. This should serve as a wake up call for the government who often tends to neglect its responsibilities and pass it onto foreign bodies. Their actions evidently signify they have little or no concern for those up north. It's unfortunate those affected by the war have to experience such inhuman conditions.
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