120,000 Nigerians likely face Boko Haram-created famine: UN

JOHANNESBURG: More than 120,000 Nigerians likely will suffer “catastrophic” famine-like conditions caused by Boko Haram’s uprising, among 11 million confronting severe food shortages this year, according to a new UN report.

The report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (WFP) 

predicts that Africa’s biggest humanitarian crisis likely will deteriorate during the “lean” food season between June and August in northeast Nigeria.

Worst affected is Borno state, the birthplace of Boko Haram, which may hold 65 percent of those “expected to face famine conditions.”

UN agencies have reported that children already are dying in the region and some half a million face



death if they do not get help.

Corruption and conflict between the government and aid agencies is compounding the crisis. Officials are investigating reports that local government agencies are stealing food aid.

Despite the crisis, Nigeria’s cereal production went up by about 5 percent in 2016, the report said, even though the Boko Haram uprising has forced hundreds of thousands of farmers off their land.

The report credited increased government support for agriculture, above-average rainfall and increased commodity prices.

But Nigeria remains a “food-deficit country” with cereal imports, mainly rice and wheat, forecast to exceed 7 million tons this year, it said.