News
MSF Raises the Alarm, Malnutrition Records Now Overwhelming in North East
MSF Raises the Alarm, Malnutrition Records Now Overwhelming in North East
By: Michael Mike
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) otherwise called Doctors Without Borders has raised the alarm that inpatient facilities in northern Nigeria have recorded an extraordinary increase in admissions of severely malnourished children with life-threatening complications, exceeding last year’s figures by over 100 per cent in some locations.
The organisation in a statement on Tuesday said the latest figure was the result of admission records in the last few weeks at facilities in the area, insisting that for MSF teams, this is an alarming indication of a premature peak of the lean season and the increase in acute malnutrition that accompanies it, typically anticipated in July.

Speaking on the situation, the MSF’s Country Representative in Nigeria, Dr Simba Tirima said: “We are resorting to treating patients on mattresses on the floor because our facilities are full. Children are dying. If immediate action is not taken, more lives hang in the balance. Everyone needs to step in to save lives and allow the children of northern Nigeria to grow free from malnutrition and its disastrous long-term, if not fatal, consequences.
“Humanitarian assistance must be urgently scaled up. MSF calls upon the Nigerian authorities, international organisations and donors to take immediate action to diagnose and treat malnourished children to prevent associated complications and deaths, but also to engage in sustained, long-term initiatives to mitigate the underlying causes of this urgent problem.
“We’ve been warning about the worsening malnutrition crisis for the last two years. 2022 and 2023 were already critical, but an even grimmer picture is unfolding in 2024. We can’t keep repeating these catastrophic scenarios year after year. What will it take to make everyone take notice and act?” Tirima added.
According to the statement, in April 2024, MSF’s medical team in Maiduguri in northeast Nigeria admitted 1250 severely malnourished children with complications to the inpatient therapeutic feeding centre, doubling the figure for April 2023. Forced to urgently scale up capacity, by the end of May the centre accommodated 350 patients, far surpassing the 200 beds initially designated for the peak malnutrition season in July and August.
Also in the northeast, the MSF-operated facility in Bauchi state’s Karfin Madaki hospital recorded a significant 188 per cent increase in admissions of severely malnourished children during the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
The statement added that in the northwestern part of the region, in Zamfara state, the inpatient centres in Shinkafi and Zurmi have received up to 30 per cent more monthly admissions in April compared to March. Talata Mafara’s facility saw about 20 per cent increase in the same period. Similarly, MSF inpatient facilities in major cities like Kano and Sokoto are also reporting alarming surges, by 75 and 100 per centrespectively. The therapeutic feeding centre in Kebbi state also documented a rise of more than 20 per cent in inpatient admissionsfrom March to April.
The statement read that despite the alarming situation, the overall humanitarian response remains inadequate. Other non-profit organisations active in the north are also overwhelmed. The United Nations and Nigerian authorities issued an urgent appeal in May for $306.4 million to address the pressing nutritional needs in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states. Yet this will be insufficient, ignoring as it does other parts of northern Nigeria where needs also outweigh the currentcapacity of the organisations to respond sufficiently.
It added that the catastrophic nutritional situation seen in recent years in northern Nigeria calls for a bigger response. Persistently excluded from the formal humanitarian response, reductions in the already limited funding available for the northwest have also dangerously affected the provision of crucial therapeutic and supplementary food. These supplies were completely unavailable in Zamfara for the first four months of this year and are now only available in lower quantities. This reduction has meant that it is only possible to provide treatment for more severe malnutrition cases, compromising an effective response that also addresses malnutrition earlier in its progression and avoids exposing children to a higher risk of mortality.
Tirima said: “We are alarmed by the reduction in aid at these critical times. Reducing nutritional support to only severely malnourished children is akin to waiting for a child to become gravely ill beforeproviding care. We urge donors and authorities to increase supporturgently for both curative and preventive approaches, ensuring that all malnourished children receive the care they desperately need.”
MSF Raises the Alarm, Malnutrition Records Now Overwhelming in North East
News
Zulum Dissolves Borno State Executive Council
Zulum Dissolves Borno State Executive Council
By: Our Reporter
Borno State Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, has approved the immediate dissolution of the State Executive Council.
The decision is to provide an enabling environment for any member of the council who may wish to contest elective positions in the forthcoming general elections.
The Governor has therefore directed all Commissioners to hand over the affairs of their respective ministries to the Permanent Secretaries on or before Friday, April 3, 2026.
Governor Zulum expressed his profound appreciation to the outgoing Commissioners for their dedication, commitment, and invaluable contributions to the development and service of the people of Borno State.
Zulum Dissolves Borno State Executive Council
News
How corp member Samuel Orji bowed to humanity at the recent Monday market tragedy
How corp member Samuel Orji bowed to humanity at the recent Monday market tragedy
By: Bodunrin Kayode
Corp member Samuel Orji is not new to Monday market because he was raised in a restaurant right in front of the place as a kid because his mother used to be a food vendor to the traders within the vicinity.
Till the day of his death, he had friends and associates along the popular Ahmadu Bello way right down to Ali Kotoko Street where traders used to patronize his mother’s buka food.

But his mother have since left the town for Abuja leaving him and his brother Steve because he was still a student attending Ramat Polytechnic where he studied Electrical engineering when she left.
Having grown up in Maiduguri, he already knew that Improvised explosive devices IED could explode at any time during the day but never knew a semblance of the worse days could return to the city of yerwa.
For people who grew up in Maiduguri, the worse days are really over when everyone goes home before six pm so he was obviously rounding off his hustling that night when the explosion went off on Ahmadu Bello way which hit his legs and brought him down.

Though we all share a common humanity, living in the north east war theatre of hadin kai, we all go out each day for our daily bread not knowing what the end of the day will be like but taking each day as it comes.
Likewise, when corp member Samuel Orji left the house of his next of kin in Maduganari that fateful black Monday, he never planned not to return home, but as fate would have it, he was one of the victims that got hit by the suicide bomb explosion in front of the Monday market.
After being called up to the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) with number NYSC/RPM/25/185709, the young Orji was still serving at the engineering department of the Nigerian television authority (NTA) Potiskum in Yobe state when he lost his life.
Orji with YB/25B/1003 now serving in Damaturu found himself in Maiduguri the weekend before that black Monday because he had taken a pass to spend the public holiday with his brother and next of kin Stephen Orji who lives in Maduganari a suburban area of Maiduguri.
Speaking with this reporter after the tragedy, Borno State coordinator of the NYSC Bashir Nasir said the entire tragedy was a shock to him after a long spell of calmness in the city.
As soon as the incident happened, he was contacted by his headquarters (HQ) in Abuja to conduct a census of his Corp members to ensure all was well and report back to them.
It was in the process that he realized that his team was fine and that the fellow that died was indeed a Corp member but was serving the nation from Damaturu and that he had died as a result of the Monday blast on Ahmadu Bello way at the entrance of the market place.
“I quickly went into action by visiting all the places I know my corp members are based. And I was sure the fellow was not serving here in Borno after the roll call.
” Later a call came from his next of kin Steve to one of our staff in Yobe who indeed linked up with us here and that was when it was ascertained that Samuel Orji was a corp member serving in Yobe.
” I then went to the home of his next of kin Stephen Orji at Maduganari and that was how we took charge by handling all the preliminary expenses to ensure he is taken home for burial.
” The Yobe axis arranged for an ambulance and staff to convey his corpse to Enugu on Monday last week for burial.
” As a result of that triple blast I had to halt routine activities of corp members in the state except the medical officers among them who were released to assist in the hospitals on the condition that management will release ambulances from them to go and return safely to their bases. ” Said the state coordinator.
Challenges of the Corp in Borno state
The main challenge is obviously tied to their security which is why they are using the Arabic Teachers secondary school as a temporary location for now.
The original location has been tendered not usable after idps used it from 2012 to 3021
However, the governor in his magnanimity has given them a new camp of one km by one Km at Auno in the outskirts of the city.
Meanwhile the coordinator who would be one year next month since he assumed duty hinted that 506 Corp members of the batch A stream one of 2005 will pass out this week on the 31st of March.
Another bold set of Corp members of the batch A stream one of 2026 will however be sworn in on the 22nd April.
How corp member Samuel Orji bowed to humanity at the recent Monday market tragedy
News
Tension in jos north council area as government slams curfew over sunday’s killings in Plateau
Tension in jos north council area as government slams curfew over sunday’s killings in Plateau
By: Bodunrin Kayode
Reports coming from Jos North council area of plateau State indicates that there is palpable tension in the city as suspected gunmen on motorcycle allegedly opened fire on some residents of Angwan Rukubu area Sunday evening.
The unprovoked shooting of innocent citizens caused serious pandemonium in the area forcing many residents to flee from the scene and avoided the general area until late at night when the government resultantly slammed a curfew in the area.
Residents were advised to avoid wandering around the general area from tomorrow in view of the incident so as not to fall victim of possible reprisals by young residents of the area.
PLATEAU STATE GOVERNMENT ORDERS 48 HOURS CURFEW IN JOS NORTH COUNCIL AREA
Reacting to the situation, the government has placed a 48 hour curfew on the area which is highly tensed according to eye witnesses for now.
A release signed by the Commissioner of information Joyce Ramnap stated that “Following the tragic security incident that occurred at Gari Ya Waye community Angwan Rukuba today Sunday 29th March 2028 resulting in the loss of lives, while several others sustained varying degrees of injuries.
”The Plateau State Government in conjunction with security agencies wishes to inform the general public of the imposition of a 48 hour curfew within Jos North Local government Area with immediate effect, commencing from 12 midnight of 29th March, to 1st April, 2026.
“The government under the leadership of His Excellency, Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang strongly condemns this barbaric and unprovoked attack on innocent citizens and assures the public that all necessary measures are being taken to apprehend the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
“Citizens are urged to remain calm, stay vigilant, and cooperate fully with security agencies by providing any useful information that may aid ongoing investigations.” Noted the release.
Tension in jos north council area as government slams curfew over sunday’s killings in Plateau
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