UN takes food aid to starving Nigerians

A woman begs as Muslim worshippers gather to pray at the Syrian Mosque in Lagos during the celebration of Eid al-Fitr on July 6, 2016. PHOTO | AFP

What you need to know:

  • They have been without food and basic supplies and relied on paltry handouts from soldiers who have been sharing their rations.
  • The vigilante said the cemetery in Banki, some 130 kilometres southeast of Borno state capital Maiduguri, was dotted with 376 graves of displaced people who died of starvation.

KANO, Saturday

The United Nations has made the first food aid delivery to thousands of people displaced by Boko Haram Islamists in the Nigerian town of Banki, where hundreds have starved to death since March.

Officials from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs delivered 30 tonnes of food transported from neighbouring Cameroon, OCHA said in a statement.

The convoy reached Banki on Thursday and distributed food to the more than 25,000 people in the town.

“An additional 700 kilogrammes of supplementary food for malnourished children was airlifted from the state capital Maiduguri to Banki on the same day,” it said.

It was the first aid delivery to the thousands of internally displaced in the northeast region in the last four months following deadly Boko Haram raids.

They have been without food and basic supplies and relied on paltry handouts from soldiers who have been sharing their rations.

Last month, a soldier and a vigilante assisting the military in fighting Boko Haram said at least 10 people were dying from hunger daily, highlighting warnings about a food crisis in the region.

The vigilante said the cemetery in Banki, some 130 kilometres southeast of Borno state capital Maiduguri, was dotted with 376 graves of displaced people who died of starvation.

The soldier said people had been reduced to “walking corpses”.

When Boko Haram intensified attacks on villages in the area, residents fled to Banki where a military detachment has been based since they retook it in September.