Nigeria’s nutrition crisis: 5.4 million children at risk as World Bank fund offers hope

With Nigeria’s child hunger crisis deepening, Save the Children calls for urgent action. Government initiatives and US$50 million in World Bank funding aim to address food shortages and boost nutrition programs in the country.

Save the Children warns that an additional one million children in Nigeria are expected to suffer acute malnutrition by April 2025, as worsening floods, violence and food shortages deepen the hunger crisis.

This brings the number to a total of 5.4 million children at risk of malnutrition compared to 4.4 million last April — a 25% increase, according to analysis carried out by Cadre Harmonisé, the regional authority on hunger crises in the Sahel and West Africa.

The NGO underlines that 1.8 million could be experiencing severe acute malnutrition (SAM), said to be the “deadliest” for children’s immune systems. SAM is also known to turn reversible illnesses, such as diarrhea, into something “potentially lethal.”

SAM cases have now reached an 80% increase, reports Save the Children. Its director, Duncan Harvey, says: “In Nigeria, the crisis is reaching unprecedented levels as catastrophic climate disasters, escalating insecurity and soaring prices threaten to leave over 16 million children hungry.”

“Urgent action is essential to combat this devastating and unacceptable trend of child hunger and malnutrition and ensure a brighter future for Nigeria’s children.”

Conflict, harvest and climate impacts

Nigeria has a population of 230 million. According to Save the Children, this year’s lean season saw 31.8 million Nigerians affected by hunger or acute food insecurity. Next year, this number is predicted to rise to 33 million, including over 16 million children.

Save the Children underlines that 1.8 million children could be experiencing severe acute malnutrition.The crisis is especially serious in the northwest and northeast of the country due to ongoing conflict, increasing displacement and damaging livelihoods, blames the NGO.

It also underlines the climate crisis impacting the population. Desertification is taking over farmland and thus impacting people’s ability to grow food. This year has seen the worst floods in 30 years, killing over 300 people and displacing 1.2 million people.

Hunger in Nigeria affects 15% of the population today compared to 7% in 2020, according to UN data.

Hajara, a Save the Children child campaigner from Katsina, comments: “I am so worried about how food insecurity is hitting children in our community. With banditry everywhere, farmers cannot go to farms so food is getting harder to find. Lots of children go to bed hungry, and malnutrition is going up, leaving us tired and unable to concentrate in school. We need our leaders to step up, bring security back and help us get the support we need so every child here can grow up safe, well-fed and healthy.”

Government initiative and funding

In order to combat food insecurity, Save the Children is urging governments to address food shortages, control price increases and strengthen protection for farmers who are being attacked by armed groups.

Meanwhile, the World Bank recently agreed to provide US$50 million in funding to Nigeria as part of its Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) Project 2.0.

In a meeting with Nigeria’s VP, Kashim Shettima, the bank’s country director, Ndiame Diop, said: “It is important to see Nigeria’s government’s ongoing financing for nutrition, the bank has earmarked US$50 million under the ANRiN 2.0 program, which is a crisis response window.”

Shettima introduced the N-774 Initiative, a program for promoting nutrition, health and education interventions in local government areas, saying “malnutrition is a Nigerian problem that needs a Nigerian solution.” He believes president Bola Ahmed Tinubu is shifting the focus of nutrition programs through locally owned solutions.

“With sustained collaboration between the federal and sub-national governments and international partners, we are confident this initiative will yield significant improvements in our community health outcomes,” says Shettima.

In other developments in the country, the Niger State will be hosting a Nutritious Food Fair (December 10–11) focused on agriculture and sustainable food systems. The event with the theme “Sustainable Food Systems: Our Collective Responsibility” is organized by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Niger State Government and the Office of the First Lady of Niger State.

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