Huge cuts to international aid – alongside intensifying conflict and the devastating impact of climate change – are creating a humanitarian crisis across Nigeria and its neighbours. Now, the UN’s food charity has warned that supplies of food are set to run out next month.
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The World Food Programme (WFP) is set to run out of food in Nigeria this month following crippling aid cuts, with more than a million people now at risk of starvation, The Independent has learnt.
In April, President Tinubu declared a state of emergency on food security in the country, while in June, a report from the WFP and UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) warned that 30.6m people in the country were now facing food crisis or acute food insecurity, and 5.4 million children were acutely malnourished, as a result of intensifying conflict, economic challenges and climate change impacts.
Now, the WFP – the UN agency that is widely seen as the last line of defence against starvation – is saying that it no longer has the funds to continue its operations.
“We only have resources to go on until this month, and the way things are looking, people are at risk of starvation,” says WFP Nigeria spokesperson Chi Lael.
“We do not have any contingency. We don’t have any carry-over. We are using all the money we have, which takes us to July,” she adds. “Our office is completely stunned right now.”
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