Yaounde: The United Nations (UN) has described a looming hunger crisis in northern Nigeria as “unprecedented,” with analysts estimating that at least 5 million children are already suffering from acute malnutrition. This is despite northern Nigeria traditionally being the nation’s agricultural heartland, producing maize, millet, and sorghum. In northeastern Nigeria alone, which includes Borno State, over one million people are believed to be facing hunger. Margot van der Velden, Western Africa Regional Director for the World Food Programme (WFP), said nearly 31 million Nigerians face acute food insecurity and need life-saving food, just as funds for West and Central Africa are shrinking.
According to Deutsche Welle, Samuel Malik, a senior researcher at Good Governance Africa, a pan-African think-tank, told DW that the root cause of the problem lies elsewhere. “The hunger crisis currently crippling northern Nigeria is fundamentally a consequence of poor governance and protracted insecurity, rather than the result of aid cuts.” He noted that although aid plays a vital role in alleviating the most severe manifestations of Nigeria’s food insecurity, it was never designed to be comprehensive or long-term.
Villagers have been forced to flee unsafe rural areas to places like the Ramin Kura displacement camp in Sokoto, northwestern Nigeria. Umaimah Abubakar, from Ranganda village, moved there after bandits killed her husband and rustled all her in-laws’ animals. “Whenever we heard they were approaching, we would run and hide,” she said, adding that the community has tried to protect itself by recruiting vigilantes. “Everyone is suffering because there’s no food. We couldn’t farm this year. Sometimes, when we manage to plant, the bandits attack before the harvest. Other times, after you’ve harvested and stored your crops, they come and burn everything.”
The crisis is further compounded by the situation in Gurnowa, located in Borno State, which has been deserted for years following jihadist attacks. Residents have sought shelter in makeshift camps under military protection in Monguno. These camps accommodate tens of thousands of internally displaced people, who fled their homes to escape the violence, which has already killed over 40,000 people and displaced more than two million from their homes in the last 16 years.
“What is driving the crisis more persistently is the Nigerian state’s failure to provide security and deliver basic governance to its rural populations,” analyst Samuel Malik tells DW. In the absence of safety, displaced persons are unable or unwilling to return to their farmlands, thus cutting off from their primary means of livelihood. The price of staples has shot up, creating more financial stress.
Borno State Governor Babagana Umara Zulum recently renewed calls for the displaced to return to their farms. Local governments say internally displaced peoples camps are no longer sustainable, but aid agencies worry about the risk of jihadist violence. “We are in a difficult situation, especially with hunger and lack of food,” a displaced person from Borno State told DW. “Some of us refugees claim they are better off by joining the Boko Haram terrorist group,” he added.
Back at Sokoto’s Ramin Kura displacement camp, 19-year-old Shaafa Usman shared her community’s struggles with planting due to kidnappings. According to Malik, farming still occurs in jihadist-controlled areas, with rural Nigerians being charged to access their fields. Violent consequences await those who cannot pay. “Anyone who goes to the farm risks being kidnapped. Most villagers no longer go because they can’t afford ransom,” Shaafa Usman told DW.