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 approaching at " high speed " . " Currently our assessment is that 14 million people are identified as in need of humanitarian assistance , " said the UN 's Peter Lundberg . "Currently our assessment is that 14 million people are identified as in need of humanitarian assistance," by 2017, Mr Lundberg told reporters in the Nigerian capital Abuja. However , the UN does not have enough money to avert the crisis and has called on international organizations , 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 killing 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 approaching at " high speed " . " 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 organizations , 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 killing millions of people .