Northeast Nigeria is an epicenter of climate change and conflict. Attacks by armed groups and counter-insurgents have forced people from their homes and cut them off from their farms.
Now, the social and economic fallout of COVID-19 is pushing the country to the brink. Under lockdown, there are longer and longer lines for food – with tensions on the rise. Coronavirus cases are rising in the Northeast, and already vulnerable people won’t survive without help.
If it’s not WFP, there’s no one else.
Triple Threats: Conflict, Insecurity and Coronavirus
June 2020
A steep drop in international oil prices - Nigeria’s major export - since the outbreak of the virus has sparked fears of a recession. Nearly 4 million people could lose their jobs temporarily, and this could rise to 13 million if movement restrictions continue. That's on top of the 23 percent of the labor force already out of work.
April 2020
With 665 confirmed cases of coronavirus, conflict is again driving hunger at a menacing pace in Nigeria’s northeast. An upsurge in violence - with renewed attacks by armed groups and counter-insurgency operations by the military – has resulted in a fresh wave of displacement, cutting off access to farming lands essential for food and livelihoods.
Photo: WFP/Giulio d'Adamo
October 2018
More than 120,000 people have been driven from their homes by the conflict over the last year.
August 2017
WFP launches a "fighting famine" campaign to raise awareness and funds for the hunger crisis in Northeast Nigeria.
January 2017
WFP scales up its response in northeast Nigeria, reaching 1 million people in need.
August 2016
WFP activates a Level 3 food emergency, its most serious crisis designation.
August 2014
Boko Haram militants kidnap 276 teenage girls from a boarding school in Chibok in Borno.
July 2014
The Boko Haram Insurgency begins causing families to flee the violence.
More than 60 percent of the country’s population lives below the poverty line. WFP’s wants to reach 3M people.
- 7.9m people need humanitarian assistance
- 3m people are food insecure
- 1.2m people rely on WFP for food every month
Meeting the challenge
The United Nations World Food Programme uses smart, innovative solutions to feed Nigerian families across the region. These innovations include livelihood programs, SCOPE registration, truck convoys and UNHAS.
Resilience
WFP provides Nigerian communities with high-quality, locally-sourced seeds, bolstering families’ food stores throughout the lean season. WFP will also provide cash transfers, tools, and vocational training.
SCOPE
This blockchain technology helps WFP collect names, fingerprints and photos when registering refugees. The SCOPE process reduces loss and theft while allowing the humanitarian agency to better monitor and evaluate food distributions.
Truck Convoys
Trucks carrying more than 1 million pounds of lifesaving food are now in transit from warehouses in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan. They are carrying large bags of food, nutritional supplements and other humanitarian supplies.
UNHAS
Managed by WFP, the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) helps transport humanitarian aid workers – as well as vaccines, medicine, and medical equipment to areas not easily reachable by land or sea – to families in crisis.
Through these efforts, the U.N. World Food Programme feeds hundreds of thousands of people inside Nigeria each month.
Halima
18-year-old Halima escaped Boko Haram and is now rebuilding her life thanks to food assistance.
Fatima
Fatima receives proper nutrition after she fled her home with her mother at the age of two.
Bintu
Bintu can now provide food for her family after losing access to her farm.
Help us realize a future beyond emergency assistance where our help is no longer needed.
Let’s build people’s knowledge, skills and resilience. Let’s invest in economic opportunities and sustainable food systems so that all Nigerian families can get the nutrition they need to reach their full potential.