33 million at risk as Nigeria’s hunger crisis deepens

A woman protest against hardship on the street of Lagos earlier this year. 

November 2, 2024 | 2:00 PM ET |

Lagos: Nigeria faces one of its worst hunger crises, with more than 30 million people expected to be food insecure next year, a one third jump from this year due to economic hardship, according to a report by Cadre Harmonisé (CH).
The Cadre Harmonisé (CH) is a food and nutrition report put together by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security with technical support from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and other partners.

The report, which was released on Friday, showed that about 25 million people including IDPs (422,686 in Borno, Sokoto, and Zamfara States) in 26 states and FCT of Nigeria are in crisis to worse, from October to December 2024.

Also, the report recorded that “about 1.3 million people in Adamawa are expected to be in crisis (CH Phase 3) or worse between June and August 2025.

“About 2 million people in Borno are expected to be in crisis (CH Phase 3) or worse between June and August 2025.

“About 1.6 million people in Yobe are expected to be in crisis (CH Phase 3) or worse between June and August 2025”.

On the overview of acute malnutrition, the report said that nearly 5.44 million children aged 0-59 months in Northwest and Northeast Nigeria likely suffering and are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition from May 2024 – April 2025.

This, according to the report includes 1.8 million Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) cases and 3.7 million Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) cases.

“In addition, 787,000 pregnant and lactating women will likely be acutely malnourished and need nutrition interventions.

“In the current period of May – September 2024, more than half of the 133 Local Government Areas (LGAs) included in the analysis were in IPC Acute Malnutrition (AMN) Phase 3 and above. Of the 63 LGAs analysed in Northeast Nigeria, 10 were classified in IPC AMN Phase 4 (Critical), 21 in Phase 3 (Serious), and 31 in Phase 2 (Alert).

“In Northwest Nigeria, there were 71 LGAs with sufficient data. Of those 71 LGAs, 24 were classified in IPC AMN Phase 4 (Critical), 29 in Phase Serious), and 18 in Phase 2 (Alert).

“The projection for the period of October to December 2024 indicates that acute malnutrition levels are expected to remain the same except for Northern Yobe where the situation is expected to deteriorate.

“For the second projection period from January to April 2025, the situation in the northeast is expected to remain the same except Mobbar and Nganzai in Northern Borno where the situation is likely deteriorates, while a slight improvement is anticipated in the northwest region”, the report said.

The report noted that the primary contributing factors to acute malnutrition in Northeast and Northwest Nigeria include poor food consumption in both quantity and quality, inadequate feeding practices, poor health services, prevalence of diseases, and low health-seeking behaviors.

“Moreover, the current economic situation, coupled with food insecurity, limited access to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services, and persistent issues like banditry, protracted conflict, population displacement, flooding, and general insecurity, exacerbates malnutrition”, the report stated.

On the key drivers of the food and nutrition insecurity, the report identified high prices of foodstuffs and non-food items as impacting household’s food consumption and livelihoods;

Furthermore, the report identified food as a factor impacting households’ food consumption and livelihood;

“Insecurity (insurgency, kidnapping, banditry) impacting the livelihoods of the households; Continuous increase of fuel prices impacting the livelihoods of the households”, the report added.

Tofiq Braimah who represented the FAO representative for Nigeria Na ECOWAS, said the is facing unprecedented times affecting livelihoods and food and nutrition security of vulnerable populations.

He said Nigeria is experiencing a combination of economic shocks that are affecting the prices of staple crops and agriculture commodities, climate, and insecurity.

He therefore noted that the CH workshops aim to analyze available food security data and contributing factors to identify populations and areas at risk of food and nutrition insecurity in Nigeria.

“Propose appropriate measures to prevent emergency of, or escalation of ongoing food crises”, noted.

Braimah further noted that CH analysis is the most reliable and widely acceptable early warning tool for humanitarian programming, food security, and livelihood response targeting, and for prioritisation of development programmes.

“This October cycle, only 26 states of the federation plus the FCT were analysed, again leaving out other 10 states,” he added.