75,000 Nigerians could starve to death: UN

 
The UN Children's Fund has delivered a dire warning that 75,000 children in Nigeria will die over the next year.

As many as 75,000 children will die in Nigeria over the next year in famine-like conditions created by Boko Haram if donors don't respond quickly, the UN Children's Fund warns.

The severity of malnutrition levels and high number of children facing death make the humanitarian crisis confronting northeastern Nigeria perhaps the worst in the world, according to Arjan de Wagt, nutrition chief for UNICEF in Nigeria.

Most severely malnourished children die of secondary illnesses like respiratory infections, de Wagt told The Associated Press. "But with famine, you actually die of hunger,'' and that is what is happening, he said.

Severe malnutrition is being found in 20, 30 and even 50 per cent of children in pockets of the region, he said.

UNICEF on Thursday doubled the amount of its appeal for Nigeria, saying $US115 million ($A150 million) is needed to save children whose "lives are literally hanging by a thread.'' Only $US24 million ($A31 million) has been raised so far, the agency said.

The lack of money has meant some 750,000 people living in accessible areas could not be helped this year, spokeswoman Doune Porter told the AP.

Most of the estimated 2.6 million people who fled Boko Haram's insurgency are subsistence farmers who have been unable to plant for two years or more.

SOURCE: AAP

IDPs: Arewa Creative Industry On Rescue Mission

As Nigerians answer the clarion call on the misery of the internationally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country, so many governmental and non-governmental organisations, including national and international donour groups come together to render their help in restoring the IDPs. The peril of the refugees, according to reports, needs to be reflected upon and more importantly take action on the desolation of the growing numbers of our citizens, who have been forced to migrate and become either refugees in neighbouring countries or internally displaced persons (IDPs) within the country.

Few weeks ago, the Prime Minister of Niger, Brigi Rafini also visited Diffa province in his country, which shares a border with Borno State to see for himself the problems posed by Nigerian refugees. His conclusion was categorical; Niger cannot cope with the numbers of Nigerians crossing the border. The humanitarian crisis was beyond their means. He explained that after one attack by Boko Haram, 17,000 refugees turned up at Gagamari village, 20 km away from Diffa, within one week multiplying the population of the village by five. As the people of Niger are themselves very poor, they simply do not have the capacity to cater for them although they are doing the best that they can. The estimate of monthly expenditure necessary to take care of Nigerian refugees in Diffa alone is 17 billion CFA. The Government of Niger simply does not have the resources to cope he explained. There are currently over 100,000 Nigerian refugees in Niger alone. The numbers in Cameroon and Chad are also growing.

As against this background, Kaduna State government, through the Special Assistant to Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai on Creative Arts, Hajiya Halima Idris, organises series of vocational skill centres for the IDPs in the state.  Describing the situation, Hajiya Idris has said the IDPs resulting from the Boko Haram insurgency is a clear display of all the hallmarks of the highest category crises.

Halima, who spoke after a visit to 270 IDPs currently taking shelter in Barakallahu, a suburb of Kaduna metropolis when she led members of the Arewa Creative Industry to donate assorted items, has convincingly extended Kaduna State government’s efforts in eradicating crime and social vices. The state government, according to her, has stepped up its rehabilitation programme which is not only limited to the IDPs, but for all those in need of rehabilitation.

“We have decided to come for ourselves to check what is happening. We want everybody to be self-employed so that subsequently they would be providing for themselves and others,” Hajiya Idris who is also the founder of the Arewa Creative Industry said.

She noted that the civilians, including children, leaving newly liberated areas, bear the signs of advanced malnutrition, and of deep trauma, having been caught in a conflict that has cost them their homes, their livelihoods and often their family members.

She said that the IDPs created by the Boko Haram insurgency were not only a problem for the North-East, but for the entire country. She therefore calls on the Nigerian government and the international community to take urgent humanitarian measures to save lives and ensure the protection of the multitude of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the country.

In addition, Hajiya Halima Abdullahi, popularly known as Uwar Marayu also noted that Nigeria currently has over four million IDPs who have been forced to leave their communities and homes due to violent conflicts. “It is quite disheartening that Nigeria is currently having millions of IDPs making the country the third worst countries in the world ranking of IDP numbers. Worldwide, the number of IDPs according to International Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) in 2013 stood at 33.3 million people. Their spatial distribution shows that 63 per cent of IDPs are located in only five countries affected by conflict – Syria (6.5 million), Colombia (5.7 million), Nigeria, (3.3 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo (2.7 million) and Sudan (2.4 million).

“Because these figures change in response to the conflict situation within countries, the caseload and therefore the ranking of the countries also change over time. The number of IDPs in Nigeria has grown considerably since the 2013 estimates and is today over four million,” noted Uwar Marayu.

Hajiya Halima conveyed Governor el-Rufai’s pledge to continue supporting the IDPs in the state as measures to curb the danger of compatriots becoming totally dependent of others for help. She said the state government is worried about the hardship and the trauma the IDPs are going through and urge them to be confident and support the initiative for a sustainable development.

As part of the activities of the august visit to the camp, top Kannywood actress, Nafisah Abdullahi, as well as other top creative Hausa Hip-hop artistes; Sadiya Yarima, Khalid and Bangis thrilled the IDPs with their performances.

SOURCE: Leadershipng

Stakeholders urge support for farmers to boost rice, wheat production

Stakeholders in rice and wheat production in some of the North Eastern states have urged government at all levels to give adequate support to farmers to enable them boost their production.

They said in separate interviews that rice and wheat farmers in the country had the potential to feed the country and export same if given the necessary support.

Malam Aminu Maiwada, a rice farmer in Gashua town of Yobe, said that most states in the country had areas that were suitable for rice production.

“In Yobe State, the Gashua/ Nguru wetlands, Nyakire lowlands, Ngalda plains and Godowoli valley had huge potential for irrigation rice farming that could produce rice to meet the needs of five other states.

“The wetlands are mostly flooded during the rainy season but dry up and become very conducive for irrigation,” he said.

Salisu Ibrahim, who said rice farming had been their family business, attributed poor processing as the reason why Nigerians preferred foreign rice.

Hajiya Hauwa Usman, a food vendor in Damaturu, said Nigerians now patronise local rice because of its natural taste.

The chairman of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN) in Minari, Dutse Local Government Area of Jigawa, Alhaji Saminu Garba, urged government to support farmers to boost their production.

According to him, with adequate support from the Federal and State governments, farmers in the country have the capacity to ensure mass production of rice, wheat and sorghum.

He said that the support could be rendered by way of providing improved seeds, fertiliser and insecticides as part of intervention activities to farmers.

Also speaking, the National Vice Chairman of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Alhaji Maiungwa Jaga, appealed to the states and Federal Government to assist rice farmers with soft loans.

In Bauchi State, about 150 farm families had cultivated over 150 hectares of wheat under the Federal Government Wheat Value Chain Programme.

Alhaji Mohammed Yusuf, Director, Federal Ministry for Agriculture in the state, said that the programme was introduced by the Federal Government through its Lake Chad Research Institute, to boost wheat production.

He named Bauchi, Kano, Katsina and Kebbi as the states selected for the programme.

“Gadau, Waya Dam, Gwalaga, Bayera, Konkiyel, Touya, Misau, Warji, Jama’are, Itas Gadau, Zaki, Gamawa and Shira are towns and villages participating in Bauchi State.

“Farmers were supported with 250kg of seed, herbicides, 80 units of water pumps, 150 units of sprayers and 25 Multi-Purpose Threshers,” he said.

According to him, some of the farmers have started harvesting their crops since February.

The director said that over 600 metric tons of the produce was being expected at the end of the harvest considering the high yield per hectares being recorded.

Dr Illiyasu Gital, Programme Manager, Bauchi State Agricultural Programme (BSADP), said the wheat programme was targeted at most of the northern states in Nigeria.

“Unfortunately, the programme started with pilot scheme and Bauchi, known for large scale wheat production, was not included in the first year.

“We had to struggle to get the state included and by the time we succeeded, it was late and only few of our farmers produced wheat.

“We were able to cultivate 3,000 hectares of land and about 1,200 farmers participated in the programme,” he said.

Dr Yahaya Adamu, Chairman, Bauchi State chapter of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), commended the Federal Government’s dry season inputs support programme, saying about 11,000 dry season rice farmers were registered in the state.

The chairman noted that with the GES scheme, the Federal Government’s Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) had solved farmers’ problem of accessing quality and affordable farm inputs, a situation that had hampered farmers’ productivity in the past.

He also commended the GES implementation team in Bauchi for ensuring that all the inputs allocated got to the 11,000 registered dry season rice farmers in the state.

Meanwhile, Alhaji Ahmed Ashemi, the Sole Administrator of Borno Chambers of Commerce, Industries, Mine and Agriculture, has said that activities of insurgents had crippled all agricultural and commercial activities in the state.

Ashemi said in Maiduguri that the state had lost its position as the second largest commercial city in the North since 2009.

He said that a huge agricultural project worth billions of naira embarked on by the Lake Chad Basin Development Authority to boost farming in the state, had to be abandoned and later destroyed by insurgents.

“There is a great potential in agriculture in Borno; we have the land and human resources to contribute to the efforts toward ensuring food sufficiency in the country but the security challenges remained a major obstacle,” he said.

Adamawa Commissioner for Agriculture, Mr Ahmadu Waziri, said the state government had held a stakeholders’ meeting to work out a blue-print that would take the state agriculture to the next level.

He observed that the challenges of food security had been exacerbated by the many years of insurgency in the state and North East sub-region.

Waziri said that access to production resources such as capital, mechanical power and improved seedlings and technologies were some of the major challenges facing farmers.

He said that the current administration has concluded arrangement to import farm machinery while discussions were ongoing with some organisations that would help with value chain addition through enhancing production and processing.

He said that the state government has also taken measures to enable farmers benefit from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers programme.

SOURCE: Todayng