News
Hungry People to Reach 49.5 million in Nigeria, Other West and Central African Countries in August 2024-WFP

Hungry People to Reach 49.5 million in Nigeria, Other West and Central African Countries in August 2024-WFP
By: Michael Mike
Hungry people in West and Central Africa including Nigeria may reach a staggering 49.5 million people between June and August 2024, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has raised the alarm.
The WFP in a statement on Tuesday said: Despite considerable efforts by governments and partners, food insecurity continues to worsen in West and Central Africa with the number of hungry people set to reach a staggering 49.5 million people between June and August 2024 – a four percent increase compared to 2023, according to a regional food security analysis which was released same day.
The statement read that: “The trend is particularly worrying in coastal countries, where the number of women, men, and children facing acute hunger (IPC/CH phases 3 or higher) is expected to reach 6.2 million during the June-August 2024 hunger gap – a 16 percent increase on last year. The November 2023 Cadre Harmonisé analysis projects cereal and tuber production throughout the region to be slightly above both last year’s levels and the 5-year average due to improved rains in 2023.”
According to the statement: Acute hunger in West and Central Africa is mainly driven by conflict – which has forcibly displaced millions of people from their homes and farms, the impact of the climate crisis, and high food and fuel prices. The prices of main foods remain well above the five-year average, particularly rice, corn, millet, sorghum, cassava and vegetable oil, despite seasonal declines in the prices of local commodities compared to last year.
The statement quoted WFP’s Acting Regional Director for Western Africa, Margot Vandervelden to have said:
“Acute hunger remains at record levels in the region, yet funding needed to respond is not keeping a pace; this is forcing WFP to scale back lifesaving assistance for those most affected in their hour of greatest need”, adding that: “Insufficient funding means the moderately hungry will be forced to skip meals and consume less nutritious food, putting them at risk of falling back into crisis or emergency phases, perpetuating the cycle of hunger and malnutrition. We need to break this circle by tackling the root causes of hunger and by building the resilience of families in West Africa.”
The statement added that the nutritional situation remains worrying, particularly in the Sahel, where emergency levels of child wasting were reached and surpassed in several countries this year, notably in parts of Mali, north-west Nigeria and Burkina Faso, it added that this was due to fragile food systems which do not deliver the specific nutritional needs of women and children; limited access to basic social services; and poor care and hygiene practices.
It noted that more than 2 out of 3 households in West and Central Africa cannot afford healthy diets. And 8 out of 10 children aged 6-23 months do not consume the minimum number of food groups they need for optimal growth and development. In the year up to the end of October 2023, 1.9 million children under five years were admitted for treatment of severe wasting across nine Sahel countries, representing a 20 percent increase as compared to the same period in 2022.
The UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Felicité Tchibindat said: “Children in West and Central Africa have a right to nutritious, safe, affordable and sustainable diets,” “We invest to prevent child malnutrition happening in the first place, but we also need funding to keep supporting government services for the early detection, treatment, and care of malnourished children to help them survive, recover, and go on to live healthy and productive lives with dignity.”
The statement stated that the cost of a daily nutritious diet in central Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) is 110 percent higher than the daily minimum wage in the region, and more and more households rely on local markets to provide their food, even in rural areas, according to the 2023 Food security and Nutrition report. For comparison, the cost of healthy diet in Africa is as high as in the USA, despite the latter GDP being more than 35 times that in the Africa region.
To address the spiralling food insecurity and malnutrition, FAO, UNICEF and WFP called on national government and financial partners to prioritize programmes that strengthen climate resilient food systems and livelihoods and invest in social protection systems, and improve natural resource management, including water, as an accelerator of resilience and development.
Participants in the Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis also recommended timely development and implementation of emergency programmes that address immediate food and nutritional needs of populations experiencing crisis and emergency levels of food insecurity and malnutrition (IPC/CH phases 3 to 5). This will not only save lives, but also prevent the risk of malnutrition among children in areas most affected by insecurity and economic crises including in Burkina Faso, Chad, DRC, Mali, Nigeria and Niger.
“With the persistence of food and nutritional insecurity, we must act urgently to save millions of lives by advocating for the acceleration of resource mobilization to finance national response plans and facilitate access to areas facing insecurity or difficult to access, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Nigeria”, said FAO Sub-Regional Coordinator for West Africa and the Sahel, Dr. Robert Guei.
The Cadre Harmonisé analysis also showed an estimated 94 million people in West and Central Africa under food security “Stress” (IPC/CH phase 2) between October and December 2023. Left without support, these communities are at risk of shifting to “crisis” and “emergency” (IPC/CH phases 3 and 4) levels of hunger tomorrow.
Hungry People to Reach 49.5 million in Nigeria, Other West and Central African Countries in August 2024-WFP
News
5th ASWAN: Zulum calls for multifaceted approach to address crisis in the Sahel

5th ASWAN: Zulum calls for multifaceted approach to address crisis in the Sahel
By: Michael Mike
Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Zulum has called for a comprehensive and multifaceted strategy, hinged on broader regional cooperation, to tackle the escalating security and humanitarian crisis in the Sahel region.
Zulum made the appeal while delivering a keynote address at the roundtable discussion of the 5th Aswan Forum for Sustainable Peace and Development held in Aswan, Egypt.
The governor, whose state has been at the epicentre of Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin, argued that a purely military solution has proven insufficient. He emphasised that lasting peace can only be achieved by simultaneously addressing the root causes of the conflict.

He said: “The crises of instability, terrorism and displacement that plague the Sahel cannot be solved by kinetic means alone,” stating that: “We must look beyond the battlefield. There is an urgent need for a multifaceted approach that combines security, development, and humanitarian assistance in a synchronised manner.”
Zulum also called for broader cooperation among countries in the Sahel region. He stressed that extremist groups and other criminal networks operate across borders with impunity, and the response must be equally transnational.
He said: “In the Sahel context, you cannot address the challenges by just looking at two or three countries. You need to look deeper into the political region of the Sahel as defined by the United Nations Strategy, which covers 10 countries, including Mauritania, Gambia and Guinea, among others. Collaboration among the larger Sahel communities is paramount.”
Beyond security collaboration, the governor called for improved development in the Sahel countries. He identified poverty, lack of education, and climate change-induced scarcity as key drivers of recruitment for armed groups.
“For the last 15 years, we have had many interventions in Borno State, but humanitarian support is not a sustainable solution. There is a need for longer-term sustainable solutions. We received many donors, partners, and non-governmental organisations, but most of them engaged in short-term humanitarian solutions.”
“There is a need for sustainable solutions, including development. The nexus between peace, development and security need not be overemphasised. If there is no development, there cannot be peace or security.”

The roundtable features other African leaders representing various countries, including H.E. Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration, and Egyptian Expatriates; H.E. Abdoulaye Diop, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and African Integration, Republic of Mali; and H.E. Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Burkinabes Abroad of the Republic of Burkina Faso.
5th ASWAN: Zulum calls for multifaceted approach to address crisis in the Sahel
News
MOTiON Condemns Violent Attack on Protesters in Abuja

MOTiON Condemns Violent Attack on Protesters in Abuja
…Calls on Government, Judiciary and Security Agencies to Stop Weaponising Citizen Dissent
By: Michael Mike
The Movement for the Transformation of Nigeria (MOTiON) has expressed outrage at what it termed brutal suppression of peaceful free Nnamdi Kanu protesters in Abuja.
The group in a statement on Tuesday, alleged that citizens exercising their constitutional right to dissent were shot at, tear-gassed, chased and arrested, in a chilling display of state hostility toward free expression.
In a statement jointly signed by its Convener, Hauwa Mustapha, and Co-Convener, Chris Isiguzo; the group said eyewitnesses and media reports confirm that security agents deployed heavy-handed tactics to crush a lawful assembly instead of protecting the rights of Nigerians.
The group said security agencies must be reminded that when citizens take to the streets to demand justice, reform, accountability or welfare, their duty is to safeguard and not silence them, stressing that only a few weeks ago, protesters demanding improved welfare for police and retired officers were not treated as adversaries because their demands favoured the same security institutions. Yet this week, citizens voicing dissent against perceived injustice were met with force and contempt. This double standard exposes a dangerous politicisation of the right to protest.
MOTiON asserted that the courts and government must stop framing citizen protests as illegitimate attempts to destabilise the state, insisting that such narratives embolden repression, obstruct reform dialogue, and erode democratic confidence.
It stated that judiciary must refuse to rubber-stamp blanket bans on assembly, and the executive must refrain from treating civic space as a political battleground.
The group said: “We further call on lawmakers to rise above partisan silence and defend the sanctity of citizens’ constitutional freedoms. They must use its oversight powers to ensure that: A public guarantee is issued that peaceful assemblies will never again be treated as criminal acts; All court injunctions restricting protests are reviewed to prevent their misuse as tools of intimidation under the guise of “security”; and Security agencies adopt and enforce a human-rights-compliant protest management protocol, and the Nigeria Police must commit to protecting citizens during protests, and ensure Nigerians are never treated as enemies simply for raising their voices.”
MOTiON said it stands in unwavering solidarity with all Nigerians exercising their right to peaceful protest, whether they are workers, students, retirees, or ordinary citizens. “We will not stay silent while legitimate dissent is criminalised and voices for justice are violently silenced.”
MOTiON is a collective force of Nigerians from mass democratic organisations, workers’ organisations, pro-democracy movements, movements for social justice, women groups, citizens groups, NGOs, academia, students and youth groups, and climate action groups.
According to it, it is a movement of movements channeling shared anger, frustration and aspirations of Nigerians into purposeful action. Through concerted, strategic effort, engaging in citizens’ actions to address and overcome the root causes of Nigeria’s current state: elite capture, ineffective leadership, institutional corruption, insecurity, and the pervasive culture of impunity.
MOTiON Condemns Violent Attack on Protesters in Abuja
Crime
Hunter mistakenly kills woman he mistook for a monkey in Boki forest

Hunter mistakenly kills woman he mistook for a monkey in Boki forest
By: Zagazola Makama
A hunter in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State has been arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a woman he mistook for a monkey while hunting in a forest.
Zagazola Makama learnt that the incident occurred on Monday at Basam Osokom community, when the hunter, identified as Otu Goodness Kanang, reportedly fired at what he believed to be a monkey perched on a tree.
According to the sources, Kanang said he heard a human cry after taking the shot and later discovered that he had mistakenly hit a woman identified as Victoria, whose other names were yet to be ascertained.
Detectives visited the scene, and with the help of community youths, evacuated the body to the residence of a local chief in Bansam for further action.
The suspect has been taken into custody as investigation into the incident continues.
Police said normalcy has been restored to the area and the Command remains calm.Hunter mistakenly kills woman he mistook for a monkey in Boki forest
By: Zagazola Makama
A hunter in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State has been arrested for allegedly shooting and killing a woman he mistook for a monkey while hunting in a forest.
Zagazola Makama learnt that the incident occurred on Monday at Basam Osokom community, when the hunter, identified as Otu Goodness Kanang, reportedly fired at what he believed to be a monkey perched on a tree.
According to the sources, Kanang said he heard a human cry after taking the shot and later discovered that he had mistakenly hit a woman identified as Victoria, whose other names were yet to be ascertained.
Detectives visited the scene, and with the help of community youths, evacuated the body to the residence of a local chief in Bansam for further action.
The suspect has been taken into custody as investigation into the incident continues.
Police said normalcy has been restored to the area and the Command remains calm.
Hunter mistakenly kills woman he mistook for a monkey in Boki forest
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