WFP’s hunger-relief assistance to Northeast on course – Country director

The United Nations humanitarian agency fighting hunger on August 10, 2017, started transporting food assistance to Nigeria’s crisis-hit Northeast, where people – displaced by Boko Haram violence and the fight against it – face the threat of famine.

The World Food Programme (WFP) kicked off moving of the first batch of rice donated by the Government of Nigeria, which contributed 5,000 metric tons of rice and pledged a further 2,000 metric tons of millet.

In a recent news release, WFP’s interim Country Director, Ronald Sibanda, noted that the donation once again testifies to the quality of relations between WFP and Nigeria.

“The assistance will help feed nearly half a million internally displaced people in the country’s conflict-ravaged Northeast,” he said.

In the package, The Daily Times gathered that the United States will cover the associated costs of getting the donated rice to those displaced in the hardest-hit states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, as part of its $100 million contribution to WFP’s Nigeria response.

Hapless victims of the dragging Boko Haram insurgency has spilled over borders, leaving millions in the broader Lake Chad Basin region, unclear of where their meal would come from.

Experts have warned that without sufficient and timely humanitarian assistance, the Northeast Nigeria risks slipping into famine.

Since launching operations last year, WFP has rapidly expanded its offer of food, nutrition and cash to reach more than a million people a month.

Having overcome a funding challenge, it has set its target at 1.36 million people during the current pre-harvest lean season, the hungriest time of the year.

Earlier in the year, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed a donation of 5,000 metric tons of rice from the Government of Nigeria.

This was part of the strategy to help feed nearly half-a-million internally displaced people in the conflict-ravaged Northeast of the country.

Director General of Nigeria’s emergency relief agency, NEMA, Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja, said in a statement that the Federal Government, in recognition of the efforts of humanitarian actors and

the need to ensure food security for the people affected by insurgency in the northeast, has not only approved the distribution of 35,905 metric tons of grains to the people, but has also approved the release of 5,000 metric tons of rice for distribution by World Food Programme (WFP) in some communities affected by insurgency.

As part of a US$100 million contribution to WFP’s Nigeria response, the United States will cover the associated costs of getting the donated rice to those displaced in the hardest-hit states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

Statistics show that Nigeria’s crisis has spilled over borders, leaving millions in the broader Lake Chad Basin region uncertain of where their meal is coming from.

Experts have warned that without sufficient and timely humanitarian assistance, northeast Nigeria risks tipping into famine.

WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.

Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.

It would be recalled that sometime last year, it was feared that the United Nations’ World Food Programme could, in a few weeks, run out of funding to feed millions living on the brink of famine in Nigeria, four people familiar with the matter said, intensifying one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises.

In the Northeast, 4.7 million people, many of them refugees from the conflict with Islamist insurgency Boko Haram, were pressed for daily rations to survive, according to the World Food Programme (WFP), one of the main aid groups handing out food.

Many of those living in camps for displaced people say they already barely get enough to eat.

“With the money they have right now, and if they won’t cut rations, they can only go to May 18,” one person said, citing talks with the WFP, who asked to not be named because they were not authorised to speak to media.”

The WFP was “reasonably certain” it would get enough funding to last until late June, the person added.

“All humanitarian crises globally are woefully underfunded and for WFP Nigeria is in one of the worst situations for funding,” a WFP spokeswoman said.

“We are trying to save lives. We need over the next six months $207 million for Nigeria. At the moment the programme is 13 percent funded for 2017. It’s extremely low. Of the four countries facing famine it is the least funded.”

The conflict with Islamist insurgency Boko Haram, which seeks to establish a caliphate in Nigeria’s northeast, began in 2009 and shows no sign of ending. It has killed more than 20,000 people and displaced more than two million.

The approaching rainy season increases the risk of disease spreading, especially within camps for the displaced, adding more stress to efforts to respond to the humanitarian crisis.

The wet season also means tens of thousands of refugees are attempting to return home to farm, despite facing serious dangers, saying there is not enough food provided in the camps to sustain them.

Contingency plan
In a recent meeting with the WFP in Nigeria’s capital Abuja, donor countries and organisations, criticised the group for not having a satisfactory contingency plan if funding starts to dry up, two of the people with knowledge of the talks said.

The WFP spokeswoman said meetings with donors were genial, open and frank.

“When we are funded and able to get out to the field we are getting to people. This crisis can be averted and we want people to understand this will work if it’s funded. We can avert the famine.”

The U.S. Embassy in Abuja said the U.S. government was working “urgently and cooperatively with our partners in an effort to address the critical humanitarian needs in northeastern Nigeria”.

“There is not adequate funding to sustain the global response to those needs here. Additional resources must be found urgently so that feeding does not stop,” the embassy said in emailed comments to Reuters.

The WFP and donors have also locked horns over who is to blame for the lack of funding reaching the aid organisation, with the U.N. agency saying the money promised has not been released to them and donors arguing that basic paperwork still has not been submitted.