The United Nations warned on Tuesday that 75,000 Nigerian children risk dying in "a few months" as hunger grips the country's ravaged northeast in the wake of the Boko Haram insurgency. Around 75,000 children in Nigeria's northeast are at risk of dying in the next few months as hunger hits an area that is struggling in the wake of the Boko Haram insurgency, warns the United Nations, adding that the crisis is unfolding at "high speed". The UN children's agency UNICEF said on Monday it was "alarmed" by a surge in malnutrition and deaths among children, particularly those under five years old. Currently our assessment is that 14 million people are identified as in need of humanitarian assistance," said the UN's Peter Lundberg. However, the UN does not have enough money to avert the crisis and has called on international partners, the private sector and Nigerian philanthropists for help. Boko Haram has laid waste to the impoverished area since it took up arms against the government in 2009, disrupting trade and farming and displacing millions of people.
Around 75,000 children in Nigeria's northeast are at risk of dying in the next few months as hunger hits an area that is struggling in the wake of the Boko Haram insurgency, warns the United Nations, adding that the crisis is unfolding at "high speed". The UN children's agency UNICEF said on Monday it was "alarmed" by a surge in malnutrition and deaths among children, particularly those under five years old. Currently our assessment is that 14 million people are identified as in need of humanitarian assistance," said the UN's Peter Lundberg. However, the UN does not have enough money to avert the crisis and has called on international partners, the private sector and Nigerian philanthropists for help. Boko Haram has laid waste to the impoverished area since it took up arms against the government in 2009, disrupting trade and farming and displacing millions of people.