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Save the Children says 700,000 children under five are among the 2.3 million children affected by the crisis.
At least 2.3 million children and young people go hungry in northeast Nigeria, where escalating violence has forced farmers to flee their fields and put the region on the brink of severe food shortages , warned aid groups.
Nigerian security forces in the region have waged a war of more than ten years against Boko Haram and its now more powerful branch, the Province of the Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP).
Attacks by armed groups have intensified in recent months, killing dozens of soldiers and civilians, including farmers.
The long-running conflict has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions of people, but it is now joined by food inflation across Nigeria which has left millions across the country unable to cope. reliably feed or feed their families.
The international humanitarian group Save the Children estimated on Friday that 700,000 children under the age of five were among the 2.3 million children affected, and called on the government to protect farmers and devote more resources.
“Millions of children have already gone through a decade of suffering, violence and humanitarian crisis. Thousands and thousands of people have died, and many more have seen their rights affected to survival, learning and protection, ”said Shannon Ward, Acting National Director of Save the Children for Nigeria , warning that the situation was dire.
According to United Nations estimates, some 10.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria.
“The reported loss of livelihoods, land and crops associated with the effects of COVID-19 is beyond what the community can bear,” Ward added.
“We are extremely worried that this will lead to an even more serious food crisis in the northeast of the country,” she added.
United Nations agency statement
Meanwhile, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said the combination of climate change, insecurity and the coronavirus pandemic had put the region on the brink of “catastrophic” food insecurity.
Edward Kallon, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Nigeria, said about 4.4 million people were at risk of critical food shortage and that the “growing threat of catastrophic food insecurity” was at its worst in five years.
Kallon said without humanitarian aid in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, millions of people would struggle to feed themselves.
“Parents are taking their children out of school to beg in order to survive,” Kallon said, adding: “The women shared that they resort to eating grass.”
The crisis in Nigeria comes as the world faces its biggest food crisis of the 21st century, with an estimated 5.7 million children under five on the brink of famine across the world.
According to Save the Children, another 13 million children under the age of 18 face extreme food shortages.
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