Food aid demand in NE Nigeria could double in a month: UN
 

GENEVA: The number of people in **rtheast Nigeria who need food aid could nearly double within a month, as the Boko Haram insurgency and eco**mic pressures intensify suffering, the UN said on Friday.

A crisis fuelled by years of radical Islamist violence has left more than three million people in the **rtheast "in a state of moderate or severe food insecurity," said Bettina Luescher, spokeswoman for the UN’s World Food Programme.

But tough eco**mic conditions in Nigeria -- caused by low oil prices and surging inflation -- could see that number rise to 5.5 million "next month", Luescher told reporters in Geneva.

"We are so concerned about where this crisis is going," she said.

Nigeria’s eco**my remains overwhelmingly reliant on oil production and the collapse in crude prices has reverberated across the country.

The naira currency fell to a record low this week, approaching 350 against the dollar.

The naira has lost nearly 40 percent of its value since June 20, when the government abandoned efforts to keep it around 200 against the dollar.

In **rtheastern Bor** state, the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency, "prices have gone up 50 to 100 percent," Luescher said.

The United Nations and other humanitarian agencies have increasingly sounded the alarm over the extent of the crisis facing civilians in the **rtheast.

When Boko Haram violence was at its peak through 2013 and 2014, humanitarian workers had almost ** access to the hardest-hit areas, making it difficult to assess the extent of the needs.

With the Nigerian military making gains against the extremists in recent months, access and information have improved.

The WFP is ramping up its operations in the region, giving cash to civilians who can buy food at markets and food aid to those with ** access to marketplaces, Luescher said. UN refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards called the situation "catastrophic".

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