The United Nations (UN) has contributed $20 million to address the pressing challenges of food security and nutrition in the north-east region of Nigeria.

The donation, announced by Ann Weru, head of public information at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), comes from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF).

The CERF funding will be utilized for food security interventions and voucher support for 95,000 individuals severely affected by food insecurity in three towns in Borno state.

The combined CERF and NHF allocation of $9 million and $11 million, respectively, will support a coordinated multisectoral response to prevent worsening conditions leading to famine.

Alarmingly, it is projected that nearly 700,000 children under five in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states will be at risk of life-threatening severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in 2023, more than double the number of cases in 2022 and quadruple that of 2021.

The UN’s funding allocation includes $2 million to UNICEF for the prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition, $1 million to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for agricultural livelihood support, and $11 million for improving water access, sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, healthcare, and protection services.

The NHF aims to allocate 50% of the funding to eligible national partners.

Matthias Schmale, the UN Resident Representative in Nigeria, emphasized the urgent need for funding to safeguard the lives and future of vulnerable children in the north-east region.

The support will enable a rapid and significant scale-up of humanitarian assistance to address the dire situation and mitigate the potential humanitarian crisis.