Northern Nigeria is expected to plunge into catastrophic food insecurity from June 2022, a new report reveals.

Specifically, the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the conflict-ridden North-East would slide into starvation and death from June this year if humanitarian intervention measures were not sustained.

In a report seen by Peoples Gazette on Wednesday, the organisations spotlighted Borno as the area with the highest concerns following incessant insurgent attacks. The report detailed that around 12.9 million people across 21 states and the Federal Capital Territory were facing a crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity.

“In Nigeria, while some populations in conflict-affected areas in the North-East are now projected to slide into catastrophic food insecurity at the peak of the lean season, from June 2022 onwards,” noted the WFP and FAO report,” adding that “it cannot be excluded that some may start to experience this even earlier, in the next months, and that the magnitude may be higher than what projections anticipate.”

If humanitarian interventions were not sustained, it projected a 5.1 million increase to 18 million between June and August 2022.

Titled ‘Hunger Hotspots’, the report pointed out that Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Yemen required urgent attention.

According to the report, Nigeria’s insecurity and high inflation rates will likely worsen food shortage and starvation.

The organisations added that persistent attacks by non-state armed groups in the North-East, bandits and intercommunal violence in the North-Central and North-West would continue to disrupt agricultural and market activities, leading to reduced incomes and new displacements.

The report also stressed that difficult macroeconomic conditions would continue to constrain access to food for vulnerable households struggling to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic-induced economic downturn.

The WFP and FAO stated that hunger would be prevalent in areas where conflict, economic shocks, natural hazards, political instability, and limited humanitarian access put millions of lives at risk.