United Kingdom Food Agency projects has forcast a devastating number thirty five million people of Nigerians to experience severe hunger by the year 2026.
Series of attacks by militants across northern Nigeria is one of the areas “driving hunger to levels never seen before” and is expected to result in the worst levels of food insecurity in Africa next year, according to a World Food Programme report released Tuesday.
The food agency of the United Nations projected 35 million people are likely to experience severe hunger in Nigeria by 2026, the highest on the continent and the largest since the agency began recording data in Nigeria.
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The WFP also predicted at least 15,000 people in Borno state, the epicenter of Nigeria´s security crisis, will experience catastrophic hunger including famine-like conditions next year. Borno will be classified as Phase 5, the agency’s highest classification of food insecurity, similar to what has been seen in some parts of Gaza and Sudan.
“Northern Nigeria is experiencing the most severe hunger crisis in a decade, with rural farming communities the hardest hit,” the WFP said in a statement.
According to the UK’s statement, Widespread attacks by various armed groups have deterred farmers from using their land, officials said.
UK Sa’id In October, al-Qaeda-affiliate Jama´at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin took responsibility for its first attack in Nigeria, making the group the latest entrant in a pool of armed groups launching attacks in the country.
