Now is the best time for the international community – governments, donors, UN agencies and NGOs – to unite with the authorities and people of the Lake Chad region and respond to the crisis striking some 10 million people. Human suffering in the area has reached alarming proportions, and unless we act now the situation will become even worse. Today we have an unprecedented window of opportunity to make a real difference.
I will always remember the scenes of devastation and despair I witnessed when I first went to Bama, a small town in northeast Nigeria in April 2016 which we reached after months of trying to gain access. The level of human suffering was amongst the worst I have seen in my twenty years working in such settings. In many areas, not a single house was left standing. Tens of thousands of people were gathered within a patch of land not much larger than a couple of football pitches. So many people were sapped of all energy and sat on the edge of starvation. The Nigerian army commander I met that day explained how he and his troops had shared their rations with people, mostly women and children, who had fled from neighbouring villages where Boko Haram had imposed its ways. When more aid workers reached Bama in the following days, we learned of masses of graves and we understood how many children had died of hunger.
UN agencies are delivering food and other life-saving urgent assistance in a camp for internally displaced persons in Banki. Until recently the tens of thousands of people living there could only be reached via cross-border aid operations from Cameroon as surrounding areas were still under Boko Haram control.
Today, the situation in Bama has changed for the better although a solution to people’s suffering remains elusive. Almost all families there have a roof over their heads and receive food on a regular basis; and the way is being paved for civilian authorities to return and provide some basic services in the area. I was pleased, on my second trip to Bama, to see young people volunteering with the Nigerian emergency management authorities. It was good to listen to young men and women who had gone through tremendous hardship and were now learning crafts such as carpentry or tailoring. The skills they acquired are invaluable in helping them provide for their families while preparing to rebuild their communities.
In recent months, Boko Haram has been pushed back in yet more parts of the Lake Chad region. Some roads have opened and aid agencies are able to travel to more towns throughout the region, thereby listening to the stories of survivors and understanding what communities – many of whom have been isolated for over three years – need most.
We have realized that this crisis is one of the biggest ever facing the international community. We are witnessing unprecedented levels of food insecurity and malnutrition in the region. Today, 11 million people or 2 out of 3 people living in the area need humanitarian aid; 1 out of 3 desperately needs food. Over half a million children under five are suffering from the most severe forms of malnutrition.
Boko Haram’s long-running violence and military counter-offensives have affected some 17 million people across Nigeria’s north-east, Cameroon’s north, western Chad and south-eastern Niger. The combined impact of insecurity, poverty and climate change is translating into a record 10 million people in need of emergency relief. More than 2.3 million people have fled from their homes.'
UN agencies and NGOs have scaled up the humanitarian response in the past months. For example, the World Food Programme soon will reach 2 million people with food. But so much more must now be done to stave off acute malnutrition and disease.
Our response to human suffering – a nuts and bolts approach to help the communities and authorities ensure that millions of people can eat, have a sheet of plastic to protect them from the upcoming rains, or visit a basic clinic if they get sick – costs $1.5 billion for the year.
And if we get the right aid to people in need now, we can help ensure their survival and also give people a chance to help themselves. Almost everyone in the Lake Chad region once relied on agriculture, fishing and farming – three sectors that were hit hard by the conflict but that can again provide for millions of people in areas that are now safer than they were one year ago. It is crucial and this is the best time to provide adequate support – such as seeds and tools – for the next planting season.
On the eve of the first international humanitarian conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad region, I urge all within the international community to join forces and respond to the day’s most acute crisis in Africa. We can save lives today and help people to help themselves; and in so doing we can contribute to a more stable and prosperous tomorrow, not only in Bama but across all of Nigeria’s north-east and the entire Lake Chad region. That is in everybody’s interest.
Aisha has been struggling to find food for her children since she has fled her village near Bama camp following violent attacks from BokoHaram and military counter operations they were met with. Usman is 2 years old but is not bigger than an 7-month-old baby. Malnutrition and hunger are beyond alarming levels across the Lake Chad Basin.