Rising prices and insurgency have already made life difficult for Nigerians in the northeastern state of Borno, and a dam break in September has left many people desperate, according to Reuters.
Many are now forced to stand in lines for handouts at camps for those displaced by fighting between Boko Haram militants and the military.
Heavy rains and floods in 29 of Nigeria’s 36 states have destroyed more than 1.5 million hectares of arable land this year, affecting more than nine million people, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
Climate change is a factor, as is Nigeria’s poorly maintained or non-existent infrastructure. The removal of state fuel subsidies and the weakening of the national currency have also affected the well-being of Nigerians.
Mass kidnappings for ransom in the northwest and conflict between farmers and herders in the central belt, traditionally the country’s breadbasket, have also disrupted agriculture and reduced food supplies.
The World Bank estimates that about 40 per cent of Nigeria’s more than 200 million people live below the international poverty line of $2.15 per person per day. 25 million people are already living with severe food and nutrition shortages, and that number could rise to 33 million by June-August next year.
Trust Mlambo, head of programme for the northeast at the World Food Programme, said:
The food crisis in Nigeria is immense because what we are seeing is a crisis within a crisis within a crisis.
As international donors focused on emergencies in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, Mlambo said funding was insufficient to fully meet Nigeria’s growing need for food aid.
In Borno, the Alau dam burst on 9 September, four days after government officials told the public it was safe. However, locals and engineers had warned that it was under strain.
