UN warns that urgent funding needed to avert catastrophic hunger in northeast Nigeria

By CHINEDU ASADU
Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The United Nations office in Nigeria says at least $396 million is urgently needed to prevent widespread hunger and malnutrition caused by the security crisis in northeastern Nigeria from turning into a “full-blown catastrophe.” The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Nigeria said Thursday that people already dying of hunger in the troubled region and limited funding could raise the risk of famine. He warns that more than a half million people may face emergency levels of food insecurity “with extremely high rates of acute malnutrition” if there is no rapid and significant scale-up of humanitarian assistance.