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Malnutrition crisis in northern Nigeria: mobilization is urgently needed to avoid further deaths
Malnutrition crisis in northern Nigeria: mobilization is urgently needed to avoid further deaths
By: Abdulkareem Yakubu
Northern Nigeria is currently facing an alarming malnutrition crisis. In Katsina State for instance, where Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been present since 2021, the teams are seeing an ever-increasing number of malnourished children in its therapeutic feeding centers, with increasingly severe conditions and higher mortality rates. In collaboration with the local authorities, emergency prevention distribution of nutritional supplements has started for 66,000 children in the local government area of Mashi. In the context of drastic cuts in international funding, the need for prevention and treatment of malnutrition is enormous in northern Nigeria, and urgent mobilization is required.
By the end of June 2025, nearly 70,000 malnourished children had already received medical care from our teams in Katsina State, including nearly 10,000 who were hospitalized in serious condition. Without taking into account the new healthcare facilities opened by MSF during the year in the state, this represents an increase of approximately one-third compared to last year. In addition, between January and June 2025, the number of malnourished children with nutritional oedema, the most severe and deadly form of malnutrition, rose by 208 percent compared with the same period in 2024. Unfortunately, 652 children have already died in our facilities since the nobeginning of 2025 due to a lack of timely access to care. A worrying sign of the growing severity of this major public health emergency, is that adults—particularly women, including pregnant and breastfeeding women—are also affected. A screening carried out in July in all five MSF malnutrition centers in Katsina State on 750 mothers of patients revealed that more than half of adult caregivers were acutely malnourished, including 13 percent with severe acute malnutrition.
To cope with the massive influx of children expected by the end of the lean season in October, MSF has increased its support to local authorities in several states in north Nigeria where we provide care to the population. In Katsina state for instance, we opened a new ambulatory therapeutic feeding center (AFTC) in Mashi and an additional inpatient therapeutic feeding center (ITFC) in Turai, to provide a total of 900 beds in two MSF-supported hospitals.
“The year 2024 marked a turning point in northern Nigeria’s nutritional crisis, with an increase of 25 percent from the previous year,” explains Ahmed Aldikhari, country representative of MSF in Nigeria. “But the true scale of the crisis exceeds all predictions. We are currently witnessing massive budget cuts, particularly from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, which are having a real impact on the treatment of malnourished children.”
Earlier this week, the World Food Programme (WFP) announced it will be forced to suspend all emergency food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people in Northeast Nigeria by the end of July due to ‘critical funding shortfalls’.
“At the same time, we observe ever-increasing needs, such as in Katsina State, where an increasing number of people cannot afford to buy food anymore, even though it is available in markets,” added Aldikhari.
A food security survey carried out by humanitarian organizations in the local government area of Kaita, in Katsina state, before the lean season began at the start of 2025 revealed that over 90 percent of households had reduced the number of meals they ate each day.
Across the north, other factors worsening the malnutrition crisis include disease outbreaks worsened by low vaccine coverage, availability and accessibility of basic health services, and other socioeconomic indices complicated by insecurity and violence.
“The most urgent way to reduce the risk of immediate death from malnutrition is to ensure families have access to food,” says Emmanuel Berbain, nutrition referent at MSF. “This can be done through large-scale distribution of food or nutritional supplements, as we are currently doing in the Mashi area, or through cash distributions when and where it is possible.”
The capacity to care for and treat malnourished children must also be expanded, both by increasing the number of beds in health facilities and by providing funding and access to ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF). These actions must be undertaken as a priority in areas where the needs – i.e. the number of malnourished children – are greatest.
People over the age of five, who are also increasingly affected by malnutrition but are currently not covered by any assistance, should also be included in prevention programs.
On July 8, His Excellency Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima publicly sounded the alarm on the scale of malnutrition in Nigeria, warning that it deprives almost 40 percent of children under the age of five of their full physical and cognitive potential. He described the situation as a national emergency requiring urgent and collective action.
MSF treated over 300,000 malnourished children in seven northern states in 2024, a 25 percent increase from 2023. In the Northwest alone, where MSF tackles malnutrition in the states of Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, and Zamfara, we have already treated almost 100,000 children suffering from severe and moderate acute malnutrition in outpatient treatment centres in the first six months of 2025 and hospitalized around 25,000 malnourished children
Malnutrition crisis in northern Nigeria: mobilization is urgently needed to avoid further deaths
News
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai repel Boko Haram attack in Adamawa
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai repel Boko Haram attack in Adamawa
By: Zagazola Makama
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai, in collaboration with other security elements, have repelled an attack by suspected Boko Haram terrorists on Mayo Ladde village in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa.
The attack occurred at about 9:00 p.m. on Friday in Mayo Ladde, a border community linking Askira/Uba Local Government Area and the Sambisa Forest axis of Borno.
Sources told Zagazola Makama that troops supported by members of the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), swiftly responded to a distress call on the attempted incursion.
“The terrorists attempted to attack the village but were decisively engaged by the troops, who repelled them and forced them to retreat,” the source said.
According to the sources, no casualty was recorded during the incident, as residents of the village had fled the area before the arrival of the terrorists.
The source added that troops had intensified patrols and surveillance in the general area and along the border communities to forestall further attacks and deny the terrorists freedom of movement.
Operation Hadin Kai reiterated its commitment to sustaining offensive operations against Boko Haram and ISWAP elements to ensure the safety of lives and property in the North-East.
Troops of Operation Hadin Kai repel Boko Haram attack in Adamawa
News
BOTMA: The agency will not tolerate underage driving in Maiduguri
BOTMA: The agency will not tolerate underage driving in Maiduguri
By: Bodunrin Kayode
The general manager of the Borno State Traffic Management Agency (BOTMA), Eng. Baba Tijani, has said that his agency will not tolerate “underaged” kids driving keke napep in Maiduguri and environs.
The GM warned that the brazen display of wrongdoing by Keke Napep was becoming alarming, especially with lots of underage kids being caught committing such crimes.
The Borno traffic management agency boss vowed to bring owners of such erring Keke napeps to book to check their reckless behavior on the streets of the Maiduguri metropolis and beyond.
Tijani, who spoke exclusively during the 2025 Federal Road Safety Corp RS12.2 Borno special marshals sectoral workshop, said that his management is aware of the dangerous excesses of the Keke Napep riders in the town and has never taken it lightly with them.
“I can assure you that we have details of all the excesses of the Keke Napep drivers in the city, and we are not joking with them. As long as we have their details, we can trace and deal with them, and the rest is history.
“I can assure you that there is no keke that is not registered by us regardless of their high numbers. For as long as they are registered in our data bank, we know how to trace them. Even if the keke is used for robbery, I assure you, we know how to sanction them for as long as they are within the state.
“By the way, it is not true that we are not capable of handling them in spite of their numbers and the enormous nature of their offenses. We do not overlook the misdemeanor of Keke Napep drivers in Maiduguri no matter how small they are.”
He told this reporter that under his watch kids who are under 18 were totally forbidden from driving keke napeps in Maiduguri metropolis, adding that residents should also avoid such keke napeps because they are obviously a death trap for commuters.
Eng. Tijani stressed that unless drivers are 18 years or above, they are not permitted to drive a keke napep in the entire Borno state, adding that only stable adults are registered as drivers of napep in their data bank used to sanction erring ones.
Tijani noted that for the remaining part of the year, his men will monitor the main roads in the metropolis thoroughly during the yuletide period to force the napep boys to conform to expected norms and behavioral patterns.
On staff strength, he added that the agency has been making use of what it has, hinting that “we have over 300 personnel in MMC and Jere alone, and we are trying to do our best with what we have even with the confusion at the Custom and Gamboru axis of the town.”
“We are aware of the challenges in many areas, and we believe that very soon the customs area will be handled. We are aware that the area is heavily congested in terms of traffic because the tunnel from one side to the other is not used, but I wish to assure commuters that all this will become history soon.
On the misbehavior of some of his staff, he noted that checks and balances have been placed within the system by management, adding that their provost marshals in white caps are out to oversee the erring staff and will send feedback to us on the next step.
Eng. Tijani called on the general public to cooperate with him and his management team by reporting erring marshals as and when wrongs were committed, adding that as soon as they are reported, action will be taken against such officials.
To press his point home, the GM revealed that about 30 erring marshals have been sacked so far from the agency, stressing that management does not drop their guards when it concerns portraying them in a bad light.
Speaking on the welfare of his staff, the GM agreed that there was an urgent need to boost the salaries of his marshals, as they are quite lower than the current minimum package.
He, however, announced that he was not leaning on his oars concerning their welfare because the matter has been tabled before the executive, and the governor is about to work on it, thereby taking care of his people.
Tijani regretted that they do not have a board that would assist them in putting their challenges on the front burner but is grateful to the media for doing justice to the plight of his people.
BOTMA: The agency will not tolerate underage driving in Maiduguri
News
Nigeria: No casualties after US bomb rocks Jabu Village in Sokoto
Nigeria: No casualties after US bomb rocks Jabu Village in Sokoto
By: Our Reporter
Residents of Jabu village in Sokoto state, Northwest Nigeria reported that there are no casualties following US bomb that rock the village on Christmas Day targeting bandits terrorists.
A video surface Monday morning showing some residents carrying heavy metal, which is said to be the bomb shell fired by US into the area.
Although there are no official comments yet to what happened in the Northwest, some residents believed that some targeted areas may have yielded most results.
NEWSng observed that following the reported US military targets on terrorists enclaves in the Northwest, top islamic clerics and certain individuals known to be marking comments in defense of the bandits and Fulani militias activities have been usually quiet.
When ABC NEWS contacted few clerics to speak on the attacks, they decline comments stating that they are also waiting to hear what the government would say with regard to the claimed by US President Trump.
“This involve US and Nigeria. I also heard but I was not there not can establish facts to what happened on Christmas Day in Sokoto. ” One of the cleric, who pleaded not to be mentioned in print said.
Another clerics, Malam Usman Tukur simply said “No comments.”
Also another who refuses to speak at all holds his lips in declining comments.
Nigeria: No casualties after US bomb rocks Jabu Village in Sokoto
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