UN accused of failing as north-east Nigeria at risk of famine

The UN has been accused of failing to act quickly enough to save hundreds of thousands of lives in northern Nigeria where a food crisis already killing hundreds of people a day is poised to become the most devastating in decades.

Nigerian authorities, who maintain tight control over humanitarian and media access to the region, have also been accused of deliberate negligence and attempting to conceal the scale of the crisis.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has categorised 4.4 million people in the Lake Chad region as “severely food insecure” – meaning they are in need of urgent food aid.

Toby Lanzer, UN assistant secretary general and OCHA’s regional humanitarian coordinator for the Sahel, said: “This is about as bad as it gets. There’s only one step worse and I’ve not come across that situation in 20 years of doing this work and that’s a famine.”

“We have to step in and quickly or we are going to have hundreds of thousands at risk of dying in the north-east of Nigeria.”

Boko Haram’s seven-year insurgency has left Borno’s farmland – which previously fed Nigeria – devastated and abandoned. This will be the region’s third year without a harvest.

The hunger crisis is claiming lives even in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and the hub of humanitarian and security forces in the region. The city has doubled in size in two years and now hosts 2.4 million displaced people. Food prices are soaring in the markets, where it now costs $100 (£75) to buy a large bag of rice.

Lanzer said UN agencies have not had the resources necessary to tackle the crisis and has called on international donors to prevent a greater catastrophe. Of the $279m (£210m) required, only $75m has so far been secured.

Isabelle Mouniaman, head of Médecins Sans Frontières operations in Nigeria, said MSF has been raising the alarm in northern Nigeria for two years and UN organisations have failed to respond.

“We’ve been calling to the UN, to the headquarters of Unicef, WFP [World Food Programme], OCHA and their response has been ‘Yes, we’re doing this and that’… But you cannot just be satisfied to say you built X number of latrines, delivered X bags of food when people are dying. It’s not enough,” Mouniaman said.

“The Red Cross is doing their job, MSF is doing their job, but the vast majority of humanitarian organisations are failing in their responsibility towards the crisis in Borno.”


The Guardian was refused entry to Bama by the Nigerian military on security grounds. But Maj Gen Leo Irabor, who leads the military operation against Boko Haram in the region, said hunger in the Bama camp was “relative”.

“Very largely I think their needs are being met,” Irabor said.

Several people evacuated to Maiduguri agreed to speak to the Guardian on condition of anonymity. One man, a civil servant, said he had seen people die every day in the camp as a result of hunger and poor sanitation.

Food rations were delivered once a day by civilian militia and distributed by local community heads. This was often raw rice, which there was no means to cook. Complaints about hunger and deaths were ignored.

“How many times we cried out or we complained … But when we were in Banki, the army confiscated all our mobile phones. If the army saw you making a telephone call, wow would they give you a beating,” he said.



Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/14/un-accused-of-failing-as-nigerian-food-crisis-threatens-hundreds-of-thousands

What else do they want? The President is their brother and 97% of the appointments so far went to them.
The Northern elders do not do the needful for these almajiris that are only used during elections.
Tribalism made them to choose a leader who has a reputation for failure over a true democrat that built schools for them.
Even if you give Buhari the sound team that OBJ or GEJ worked with, He can't deliver the country because he lacks knowledge, skills and ability to think outside the box.
Well as a human and a christian, I wish that God will intervene in their situation.

What is needed in the North is education. We are in the 21st century. Educate them so that they can feed themselves and realise that ranching is the new and better way of keeping cows instead of trekking from sokoto to umuahia.
I am happy with the works of Rochas in Imo state. It is very difficult to get housemaid from Imo state because of the massive enrolment of kids into schools. Imo state has a relatively low crime rate.
Igbos generally are doing well because of education, Christianity and the inherent hardworking spirit in them. Who could believe that we fought a war few decades ago.

Bad.

Ok

It's their life, they allowed their governors and elites to play politics with them.



R.I.P to the innocent kids that were killed

The Igbo's had worst from 1967-1973.. My dad told me.

Oh, so the blame is now on UN, because their humanitarian aid isn't forthcoming as expected? Rubbish!

How about the rascals in charge of the IDP camps that has been stealing truckloads of foods?
Even if the UN provides more than enough aids today, these backward and depraved sub humans will find a way to steal them.

They brought all this trauma upon themselves in the first place.

When a bunch of people choose religion over education, over enlightenment, over human development, over kith and kin, over rational thoughts, then expect disaster.
Next, put one of them to be in charge of a diverse and multi-faceted country such as this, then the implosion has become a certainty. It's just beginning.

As it is now, the number of people that's going to perish from starvation will far outnumber those killed directly as a result of the insurgency.

greatest Arewa......God is una strength

Buhari with this blame culture can't provide the needed change. Does he ever take responsibilities?
Please someone should remind them that GEJ is no longer the president before shettima abi shakima will say that GEJ didn't call him to know the situation in Borno.
I thought GEJ was clueless until I met PMB.

I don die!!!

UN can lie die.
that's just what I have to say

ehya. Una sorry o.