Over Three Million Persons Face Food Insecurity in Nigeria’s Northeast, Says EU Ambassador

The Head of Delegation for the European Union (EU) and ECOWAS, Ms. Samuela Isopi, has said more than three million people have food insecurity in the north-eastern part of Nigeria.

She also said an equal number of children are suffering from acute malnutrition in the north-east as a result of Boko Haram insurgency.

Isopi stated this on Monday evening, at the premiere of “HOPE,” a documentary film, sponsored by the EU in collaboration with Factstory, a subsidiary agency of Agence France-Presse (AFP).

She stressed that ‘HOPE’ was about the challenges that the residents of the north-east faced in their daily lives of which their sources of income were destroyed by the insurgency.

Isopi noted that a decade after the start of the insurgency in the north-east, the region was still suffering from the loss of lives and property, food insecurity and a very poor standard of living.

She stated: “More than two million remain displaced from their homes, while hundreds of thousands are living in overcrowded displacement sites, without proper access to sanitation and clean water.

“More than three million people have food insecurity and an equal high number of children are suffering from acute malnutrition. The number of out of school children has also increased exponentially.”

Isopi noted that the EU had committed about €130 million over the past four years to assist the Nigerian in rebuilding, rehabilitation and peace efforts.

She added, “Since 2014, the European Union has also provided more than €345 million in humanitarian assistance, including the 56 million funding allocated in 2021.”

Isopi said the film aims at increasing awareness about the role of the European Union and about its contribution to humanitarian recovery assistance to conflict affected populations, but also about its partnership with the government and the people of Nigeria.

On her part, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Ms. Sadiya Farouq, said one of the most critical needs of the north-east was food security.

Farouq, who was represented by the Executive Director of Disaster Management, Dr. Suleiman Abubakar, said she hoped that the documentary would achieve its desired objective of bringing the plight of the north-east to the general public so that the condition of the north-east would be alleviated.

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