Save the Children: Over 15m Nigerian kids to experience hunger crisis from June to August

Save the Children International (SCI), a charity organisation, says more than 15 million kids in Nigeria will face a hunger crisis between June and August 2024.

In a recent report, the organisation put the number of children currently facing starvation at 25 percent — higher than the figure recorded during the same period in 2023.

Duncan Harvey, Save the Children country director in Nigeria, said the hunger crisis is caused by the “violent killings, attacks and kidnappings by non-state armed groups and bandits in the country’s north”.

Harvey said the escalating insecurity has affected food production, disrupted local markets and caused farmers to abandon their farms.

He quoted the Association of Nigerian Farmers as reporting that about 165 farmers have been killed in 2024, especially in the north-central region.

“Almost 32 million people in Nigeria, including 15.6 million children, will face crisis levels of hunger between June and August unless food and cash assistance is received,” he said.

“While these months between harvests are when hunger typically peaks in Nigeria, a quarter more children are set to go hungry compared to 2023. This suggests that over 3.4 million additional children — on average 9,000 a day — have been plunged into hunger in the last year.

“An already dire hunger situation in the country is gradually going from bad to worse as violence, insecurity and rising prices combine to leave over 15 million children hungry in Nigeria.

“Hunger exists nationwide, but the situation in the north where violence is rife is particularly dire. In Borno, Yobe, Katsina and Zamfara, one in three children do not know where their next meal will come from.

“Children in Nigeria — who make up one of the largest child populations in the world —have already endured far too much, as millions face conflict, violence and exploitation.

“This year, one in six children will go hungry — an increase from last year.”

The country director said about 490,000 children — mostly in Borno and Katsina — are expected to face catastrophic levels of hunger this year.

He called on the federal, state and local governments to take urgent action by collaborating to transform food production and prioritise the needs of Nigerian children.