The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
OCHA Press conference on Nigeria 28 June 2023
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31:34
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MP4
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2 GB
- Exterior medium shot: UN Palais with flags
- Wide shot: speaker and moderator behind podium at the press conference, screens with speaker on both sides of the podium
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Matthias Schmale, Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria: “The number of people facing severe hunger in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, the three key ones where we are working as a humanitarian community, the number of people facing severe hunger is 4.3 million, up from 4.1 million last year. More than half a million people are facing emergency levels of food insecurity, which is one step away from famine.”
- Wide shot: speakers and moderator at podium, screen with speaker, attendee in the foreground taking notes
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Cristian Munduate, UNICEF Country Representative, Nigeria: “It is those children that are very close of dying, who really need immediate therapeutical response in health facilities. But we also have moderate, acute malnutrition and stunted children that require complementary feeding.”
- Medium shot: speakers at podium
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Cristian Munduate, UNICEF Country Representative, Nigeria: “The big numbers of acute, severe acute malnutrition. What we are talking about in the Northeast is 700,000 children and this by itself, it’s really alarming.”
- Medium shot: speaker at podium, attendee’s laptop in the foreground
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Matthias Schmale, Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria: “This crisis is primarily the result of years of protracted conflict. We are in the 13th year of a non-international armed conflict and the insecurity that comes with the conflict that continues to prevent many people from farming or earning their own income.”
- Close shot: attendee at the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Matthias Schmale, Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria: “What we see more and more is illegal vehicle checkpoints by non-state armed actors and improvised explosive device attacks. That is what is making road movement risky and again, of course, is affecting severely the population.”
- Medium shot: speakers and moderator at podium, moderator in the foreground
- SOUNDBITE (English) – David Stevenson, World Food Programme Country Director, Nigeria: “Deep trenches circling these villages. And the IDPs live inside the trenches. They can't go outside the trenches. The government policy, the military policy, the police policy agrees that it's not safe for them to go outside those trenches. So, when we fly in, the farmers’ fields are empty. Look out the window, there's no farmers there. And yet it's a farming area. So, they're dependent on food assistance for two reasons, because they're in camps and they're hungry.”
- Close shot: attendee taking notes at the press conference
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Matthias Schmale, Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria: “Nigeria is one of the countries across the Sahel that's on the frontline of the climate crisis. Last year we saw the worst floods in ten years in Nigeria, not just the north-east, which expected more than 4.4 million people across the country.”
- Wide shot: speakers and moderator at podium, screen with speaker, attendee and moderator in the foreground
- Close shot: attendee taking notes
- Close shot: attendee taking a picture
North-eastern Nigeria: Half a million people one step away from famine
With half a million people one step away from famine in north-eastern Nigeria, UN humanitarians are sounding the alarm bell on Wednesday at a briefing at the United Nations in Geneva asking for urgently needed funding to provide life-saving operations.
“The number of people facing severe hunger in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, the three key areas where we are working as a humanitarian community, the number of people facing severe hunger is 4.3 million, up from 4.1 million last year. More than half a million people are facing emergency levels of food insecurity, which is one step away from famine,” said the UN’s top humanitarian official in the country, Matthias Schmale.
As a result of the alarming food security and nutrition crisis in the country, an estimated 6 million people need immediate food assistance.
Particularly staggering are the numbers of children affected by this crisis. 700,000 children under the age of five years are at risk of life-threatening severe acute malnutrition, a number which has doubled compared to last year.
“What we are talking about in the north-east is 700,000 children and this by itself, it’s really alarming,” said Cristian Munduate, UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria. “It is those children that are very close of dying, who really need immediate therapeutical response in health facilities. But we also have moderate, acute malnutrition and stunted children that require complementary feeding.”
The humanitarian coordinator also pointed out that the crisis is disproportionately affecting women and girls who face increased risk of violence, including abduction, rape and sexual abuse. Out of 2.2 million internally displaced persons (IDP), over the half are female.
“This crisis is primarily the result of years of protracted conflict”, said Mr. Schmale. “We are in the 13th year of a non-international armed conflict and the insecurity that comes with the conflict that continues to prevent many people from farming or earning their own income.” He added that “what we see more and more is illegal vehicle checkpoints by non-state armed actors and improvised explosive device attacks. That is what is making road movement risky and again, of course, is affecting severely the population.”
High food and fuel prices also have increased the cost of humanitarian operations. Due to security concerns, the north-eastern part of Nigeria can only be accessed by helicopter.
“Deep trenches circling these villages, and the IDPs live inside the trenches. They can't go outside the trenches”, explained David Stevenson, director for the World Food Programme in Nigeria. “The government policy, the military policy, the police policy agrees that it's not safe for them to go outside those trenches. So, when we fly in, the farmers’ fields are empty. We look out the window, there's no farmers there. And yet it's a farming area. So, they're dependent on food assistance for two reasons, because they're in camps and they're hungry.”
Climate change also had a significant impact on the country’s development.
“Nigeria is one of the countries across the Sahel that's on the frontline of the climate crisis,” said Mr. Schmale. “Last year we saw the worst floods in ten years in Nigeria, not just the north-east, which expected more than 4.4 million people across the country.”
Overall, the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for north-east Nigeria requesting US$1.3 billion dollars is only 25 per cent funded (336.7 million) at mid-year.
-ends-
Teleprompter
Yes.
Thank you very much.
Good morning, everybody.
We are Wednesday, the 28th of June.
This is the United Nations in Geneva.
We have a press conference this morning.
My pleasure to introduce Matthias Schmell, who's the Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria.
We haven't heard about Nigeria's situation for a while.
And so I will hand over without any further ado, Matthias, thank you very much.
We are very appreciative to have this opportunity.
I'm deliberately saying we, because I am joined by colleagues from WFP, UNICEF and Premier Eugeance.
If questions get too difficult, I will pass them on to the colleagues.
So, but it's a team effort.
I have to say our key message since I was here a year ago with some colleagues is that we must act fast to prevent the situation in the North East of Nigeria from becoming even more catastrophic.
An estimated 6 million people this year need assistance, which is up from 5.5 million people last year, So half a million people more in terms of urgent assistance.
The number of people facing severe hunger in Borno, Adamawa and Yorba states, the three key ones where we are working as a humanitarian community.
Number of people facing severe hunger is 4.3 million, up from 4.1 million last year.
More than half a million people are facing emergency levels of food insecurity, which is one step away from famine.
So really we are ringing the alarm bell here today.
We just came out of a briefing with Member States where we told them that the number of children under 5 at risk of life threatening severe acute malnutrition has doubled to 700,000 this year compared to last year.
And this number is in fact four times that of 2021.
I have been like other colleagues to Borno and the other two states.
Several times I've seen mothers fighting for the lives of their malnourished children in nutrition stabilisation centres.
I've spoken to children themselves who have been talking about being hungry for days without enough.
I've talked to families, mothers and fathers who've gone for months without receiving food assistance.
Those of us who are parents must imagine what it's like when you cannot ensure your children have enough to eat.
I would like to remind that this crisis is primarily the result of years of protected conflict.
We're in the 13th year of a non international armed conflict and the insecurity that comes with a conflict that continues to prevent many people from farming or earning their own income.
I also want to, like last year, repeat that this crisis is disproportionately affecting women and girls.
Out of 2.2 million internally displaced people, for example, 55% are women.
Female women and girls have increased risks of violence, including abduction, **** and sexual *****.
A further aspect to this is the evolving economic situation around the globe.
We all know food and fuel prices have been increasing in the recent month, fertiliser prices have spiked.
So of course, the global economic situation doesn't make it any easier.
And then as an another aspect to highlight is the climate crisis.
Nigeria is one of the countries across the Sahel that's on the front line of the climate crisis.
Last year, we saw the worst floods in 10 years in Nigeria, not just the NE, which expected more than 4.4 million people across the country.
We have for the third year in a row.
And again, that's what's brought us to Geneva today as a as a team developed a prioritised 6 month lean season plan based on our overall humanitarian response plan for the year.
This lean season plan is prioritising is seeking almost 400 million to help 2 point dollars to help 2.8 million people.
As we speak here today, it is only 38% funded.
So we're again ringing the alarm bell.
We urgently need to cover it as best as we can.
Our overall 2023 humanitarian response plan for NE Nigeria is requesting $1.3 billion this year.
It is only 25% funded halfway into the year.
So again, we need the priorities funded.
We're speaking out specifically today, but we of course to avoid a crisis continuing and becoming worse the the overall plan funded as well.
And we are really here as advocates, not just for our own organisations but really for the affected people.
It is they who need the funding so that severely malnourished children can be treated and that we can collectively prevent more children from falling sick.
Allow me just before closing to mention that there are in in some lights at the end of the tunnel and it's not the train coming.
There are some opportunities.
There are some areas which are safer and more stable than others and where various actors are involved in more durable solution projects.
Just yesterday, our colleagues from UNHCR opened some new housing in in Adamawa State and other organisations are involved including WFP and UNICEF who are with me here in more developmental work.
Finally, we know that the international community is faced with competing demands to respond to crises.
You all know about Sudan, Ukraine, Somalia, Yemen, just to mention a few.
And our message today really is that the world must not forget the people of Northeast Nigeria.
For various reasons, but chiefly because of the people themselves.
Millions of people across Northeast Nigeria are counting on yet more generosity of the international community and member states donors to survive.
They also need hope for the future, not just the aid.
We need most importantly, the people of Northeast Nigeria to experience peace, to be able to rebuild their lives.
I thank you for your attention.
Yeah, thank you very much, Matthias.
OK, so opening remarks.
We have a chance now for questions.
We have a few other speakers.
I didn't introduce them, my apologies.
So David Stevenson from the World Food Programme, country Director for Nigeria, Christian Monduate, UNICEF Country Representative for the country and Yujeed Lanmanbunder, Who's Premier Agence Country Director for Nigeria as well.
I see that Lisa Shrine, Voice of America would like to ask a question.
Lisa, go for it please.
Thank you.
Thanks, Danielle.
Good morning to good morning to you.
I hear an echo.
Do you hear an echo?
We hear you, Lisa.
Oh, OK.
I hi.
OK, I'll try again.
I I heard an echo and I'm recording this so I'm just wondering if it's going to be going on.
Lisa, I'm sorry, would you mind repeating that?
Maybe speaking a bit more loudly?
There's no echo for us.
I'm sorry that you have one, but it's OK, You're coming through loud and clear.
First of all, if, if, if Mr Schmal, if you could send Mr Schmal's notes to us, it would be helpful.
There are a lot of numbers in there and a lot of information.
And then perhaps you and the other participants in this group can talk about you.
You have not much money for any of your programmes.
And so I'm wondering what it is that the various agencies are doing to compensate for this, Whether you are forced to cut programmes that would create problems for a great many people and if So, what they are and, and if the agencies could speak about their primary concerns at this particular moment.
And then security is a huge problem.
What's happening on that regard?
Is the government participating in terms of increasing security around various settlements?
Is the United Nations present or is this a failed enterprise?
Thank you.
Can I just step in, Lisa?
We, we will share the figures with you after the press conference.
And now I'll hand over to Matthias and anybody else who would like to speak.
Thank you.
That would be good if the colleagues, for example, UNICEF speaks about the impact on children in terms of the underfunding of our work.
So we're not in a phase yet of having to cut programmes, but if we don't get the funding we're asking for, there will be further dramatic impact in terms of children wasting, for example.
And so I'll let the colleagues speak to that.
Allow me comment on the security situation.
So the first thing to be said is we we have to acknowledge that the military has had some, as they call it, kinetic successes.
Now does that make the situation on the ground safer for the people we are serving and for our own movements?
Unfortunately not.
The nature of the conflict is evolving and and what we see more and more is illegal vehicle checkpoints by non state armed actors and improvised explosive device attacks.
That is what make is making Rd movement risky and again of course is affecting severely the the the population.
The civilian population 153.
Sorry for more numbers out of 169.
More than 90% of all explosive ordinance incidents in the Northeast occurred in Borno State.
So Borno State is taking the major hit on this.
And of course, you know, if you have all these uncleared minds and devices lying around, that makes the situation very difficult.
Government.
So government is participating again, military is doing it's bit.
And the hope remains, you know, that the conflict can end.
The military itself is saying it's not just about military victories.
And and that's maybe the message to end on.
From my side, the underlying crisis is essentially a development crisis, the absence of sufficient social and development services provided by government.
So what is crucial, as I mentioned in my opening remarks, is that where opportunities exist, we step in to support government with developmental work, to improve social and development services, notably education, health and of course, livelihood opportunities.
That I think is what will do the trick.
And yes, the government, I think is fully committed to this and we hope that under the new president will see renewed momentum to find peace.
But if you allow, if colleagues can speak to the first question.
OK, Lisa, bear with us, please.
We're just going to, you could stay where you are, Matthias.
And then we'll we'll have Christian, if you could maybe say, OK, yes, so I'll just introduce you and then all the journalists know who you are.
I've already mentioned who you are, but maybe I'll just do it officially so you can get your breath.
So Christian Munduate from UNICEF, who is the country representative for Nigeria.
So thank you.
First, I would like to explain that definitely the NE part of the country is the part where we have humanitarian response due to the very complex situation.
But in total, in the entire country, the number of children who are suffering acute malnutrition totals 1.3 million children.
Who are these children?
Because talking about severe acute malnutrition maybe doesn't give us the picture.
It is those children that are very close of dying who really need immediate therapeutical response in health facilities.
But we also have moderate acute malnutrition and stunted children that require complementary feeding.
So from the big numbers of acute, severe acute malnutrition, what we are talking about in the Bay in the northeast is 700,000 children and, and this by itself, it's really alarming.
We, the difference from the East to the rest of the country is that in the rest of the country we can build with different partners, you know, and, and private sector.
And the there's this resilience where in the Northeast we are still in a conflict zone where we have lots of challenges in terms of access, in terms of the presence of the necessary, for example, primary healthcare services because the security conditions do not allow to have institutions there providing the service.
No, this makes our operations and the response is more expensive because there is no institutional basically response there.
And and that is why we are struggling right now with the lack of funds.
The efforts from the partners on.
On one side, we are for example trying to operate with funds that are for other purposes to see how we can sustain.
But definitely we are really running out of the necessary supplies and response that are required in that area.
So for moderate acute malnutrition we will run definitely out of stock in August and for the severe the the ones that really need a five life saving action, we will run out of stock by September.
We need to add that water and sanitation is a huge priority because we cannot have these malnourished children and on top getting sick with infections, intestinal infections, worms, diarrhoea, because this accelerates the deterioration of their health.
So by July basically in one month, the areas where we are giving emergency response, humanitarian response for water and sanitation facilities, which is not huge construction, but it's very, you know, basic, simple commodities that will help families and communities in a way to some prevention.
Then in July, we are also thin.
So our margins are are very thin.
And it's not only the UN agencies.
I'm speaking on behalf of the nutrition sector.
So we have international NGOs, national NGOs operating there and and saying that we are not just in the easy to reach areas, we we are in the reaching even the non go areas.
So to reach there we have to do it by air thanks to WFP facilities etcetera.
So this, as you may imagine, makes the response more complicated in this regards.
Basically, we count with media to join us in this effort to to share the situation and to help us, you know, bring in the the governments and the partners that can finance our our response so that they commit and we reach the goal we have and more importantly, that we save the lives of children.
Thank you, Yes, Christian, thank you so much.
I don't think anybody could argue with those sentiments.
Maybe David Stevenson from Eunice from WFP, Excuse me, Well, food programme, would you like to come and bring your name plate as well, please?
OK, Thank you.
Good morning everyone.
Pleasure to be here.
So the Whirlpool programme in my job is very much frontline in, in Northeastern Nigeria.
And, and the question is what would be the implications if we don't get the support that we're appealing for today?
Our UNICEF Rep Christian has just spoken about particularly nutrition needs and our humanitarian coordinator Matthias has talked about the overall needs.
So let me add some perspective as as well.
First, in terms of the situation in, in, in, in some ways the capital of the Northeast, it's the capital of Borno State, Mataguri, but it's also the biggest centre in the Northeast in terms of Atomwama and, and Yowie states.
It's, it's relatively safe now.
It's there's been an improvement there.
So we're not assisting anyone in Mataguri in terms of our food assistance appeal numbers and that's where our air operation starts.
Of the 4.3 million people in need of food assistance in the Northeast, we're also not even trying to assist.
1.41 point 5 million.
So they're not included in the humanitarian appeal, although they are needy people.
And that was where hard choices of prioritisation based on those that are most affected by the conflict, those that are most affected by the floods and inflation.
And also frankly, some, some reality we needed to bring into the equation in terms of resource expectations and understanding the, the challenge is globally that that Nigeria's appeal is, is, is is faced with.
So there's been a, a very significant prioritisation and already we have people coming to our offices saying, you know, they're hungry, they're extremely hungry and people appealing on their behalf and, and we're turning them away.
What's the implication of that?
Well, most of the people, the ID PS, not in Mataguri, but we fly out to Garrison camps.
These are military camps where people are living, protected by the military.
There are trenches.
There are military trenches like in World War 2.
You see them in the movies, deep trenches circling these villages.
And the ID PS live inside the trenches.
They can't go outside the trenches.
The government policy, the military policy, the police policy agrees that it's not safe for them to go outside those trenches.
So when we fly in, the farmers fields are empty, you know, look out the window, there's no farmers there.
And yet it's a farming area.
So they're dependent on food assistance for two reasons, because they're in camps and they're hungry, but also because they can't go home.
And the solution is get them home on their farms.
So there's a protection issue, protecting civilians, being part of a protection cell which which is LED led by government.
And then there are all the issues.
If you start removing food rations, what happens?
What happens to the most hungry?
Obviously, they move towards more severe hunger and there is death, there is mortality and and we can expect that to happen in in Nigeria and we're looking for assistance before it's, it's it's too, too late.
So that's really the explanation we have regarding the urgency in Northern Nigeria for which we need a a continued global response to sustain the gains in terms of stabilising the area from for conflict and to create wait for the conditions so that the people can go back to their farms and we have self-reliance.
Thanks.
Yeah, thank you David.
That's a pretty stark message and and very graphic too.
Could I now invite Eugene Ujida Lalmanbunda from Nigeria's Premier jeans, an NGO, I believe.
I see no other questions for the moment.
So, yeah, you could give us a couple of minutes of, of background and, and, and your needs.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Actually, I'm not going to talk about the figures again because we, we've talked about a lot and as Mathias said, we shared his, his, his presentation so that it's clear about the figures.
So just just like to highlight actually the impact on the international and national NGO's, in case you know the the the UN agencies are not able to mobilise the the required fund.
Of course as a international NGOs and national NGOs we have other funding mechanism but in Nigeria especially we rely a lot on the UN agencies.
David, talk about the way people move.
You know humanitarian especially move from from Maiduguri to deep feed locations.
It is only by air.
All the road movements is no longer possible for humanitarian because they have been targeted by the non state armed groups and materials.
Talk about illegal vehicle checkpoints everywhere on the road.
So if like WFP doesn't have enough support, so it won't be also able to support the Ng OS.
Just to give an example for Premier Insurance internationally, we have 3 bases outside of Mediagury where some of the bases I have more than 100 staff.
Those staff they're not from the area, so they have to go and come back for their vacation.
Of course, for their well-being, they have like to rest and relax sometimes after two months in the such conditions.
But if there is no support from WFP, there is no helicopter, there is no fixed wing, I will not be able to move those stuff from those locations and they won't be able to provide assistance to the people in need.
A place like Monguno where we have more ID PS than host community.
So the people rely on humanitarian assistance only.
That's that's one thing.
So you'll see that the impact of the UN not getting the enough fund will be really burdened to the to the NGOs, The same for nutrition, health and other sectors as well.
Because if we don't have enough supplies for the, for the nutrition, so we won't be able to run all the stabilisation centres that we have in Borno, Adamawa in the Europe state.
And we won't be able to, to run other outpatient therapeutic programmes that, that we have.
The one of the example we had, I mentioned in my, in my briefing that we had to close 5 stabilisation centres in and some of them even in Maiduguri because of resources, resource constraints actually.
So that's, that's one example.
But I want to put a comment on the security situation itself.
As Matthias said, of course there have been some improvements.
The government has tried, you know, to support as much as possible as we can see.
But it's not enough.
Like for now, we've seen when I, I, I talk about improvement, it's within the Garrison town.
As David said, there are trenches around the town.
So we've seen improvement, improvement within the Garrison town where we can freely provide assistance.
What about the vulnerable people beyond the trenches, outside of the Garrison town?
That compromises actually the humanitarian principles as well and question the neutrality, the independence of the international Ng OS because those people are also in need.
But we are not able to provide assistance because we are not allowed as Ng OS to work beyond the trenches.
So the security has improved at some extent, but it's not enough for the people to have access to assistance.
I, I really like this morning, Mathias said.
We don't, we cannot talk about humanitarian having access to beneficiaries, but the beneficiaries having access to assistance, the people in need, they're not able to move and get assistance where it's provided.
So that's why actually this mobilisation, it's crucial for the coming months for the humanitarian response in in Nigeria, whether for the UN agencies, the international and national organisation especially because for now, considering the situation, the national NGOs are really the front line of the response because there are places where as an international organisation we can't go.
But national organisation, they have access to those places because they are, are rooted organisations, they have really presence in the local communities and we can provide assistance through them.
So it's important for for all of us.
Thank you, Thank you.
Ajit.
We have a question from Robin Millard, AFP.
Robin, can you hear me?
Yes, thank you.
It seems like much of the problem here is, is one of security.
And I know this is a broad question, but so So what could be done to fix that original problem, which would then allow the other things that you'd like to do to to fall into place?
Thank you.
Who was that question for?
Robin?
Sorry for Matthias and anyone else you might like to answer.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So twofold answer, I think 11 is that we, sorry, I keep messing with the microphone here, apologies.
So 1 is that we need the military and security forces.
It's not just the military, it's police, for example, as military victories are being won to secure areas and to expand what other speakers have spoken about the the area that's safe.
So to be able to go beyond the trenches.
So it's military victories is followed by normal security provision in the form of stable police forces.
That's one bit.
A second bit is, as I think I said earlier, if one agrees with the analysis, that what led to all of this is basically failed development.
The way to end this is, is not just reaching a peace agreement, ending the conflict, but actually addressing the underlying development crisis.
And that's why I said earlier we're hoping that the new president will accelerate achievement of the SDG's, the Sustainable Development Goals.
There is no doubt, I think in many people's minds, even if you reach, if you end the conflict and reach peace, if you do not provide the basic things people need to live a decent life, education, health and livelihood, the temptation to go back to conflict and war will be huge.
So it's really these two tracks.
It's to expand, where possible, secure environments, including police forces, and it is to address the underlying development crisis.
Thank you.
Would any of our other speakers like to take the floor?
No, Robin, I hope that answers your question.
So I don't see any other questions for the time being.
If you do have a question and you'd like to raise your hand, please do so now.
Otherwise, I think that really wraps it up.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Mathias.
Thank you, Ji.
Thank you, David.
Thank you, Christian, Thank you for following this press briefing and we will see you soon.