Hunger spreads in northern Nigeria
By Vatican News
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, more than 3.3 million people in northeastern Nigeria are currently facing food insecurity.
The vast majority are farmers who have been forced to abandon their land due to the ongoing insecurity in the region, and are thus cut off from their primary source of livelihood. Fishermen are also affected.
The Vatican's Fides news agency has reported that security concerns are preventing herders from accessing grazing areas for their livestock and keeping fishermen from reaching waters such as Lake Chad and major rivers like the Niger and Taraba.
Both groups are also suffering due to the activities of armed groups and bandits that continue to wreak havoc across northern Nigeria.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has also raised the alarm. The FAO has warned that during this lean season, that is the months before the harvest, over 30 million Nigerians could be at risk of food insecurity, and the Red Cross has warned that relief efforts alone may not be enough to address the situation.
Food insecurity in Nigeria is a symptom of a deeper, unresolved problem, the organisation says, namely the persistent violence caused by armed groups. Adding to the crisis, the Red Cross says, is the impact of climate change, which is driving internal displacement across the country.
Nigeria is experiencing both drought in the north west and flooding in the east, two extremes that are devastating the nation's agricultural heartlands.
Material from Fides news agency was used in this report.
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