Conflict, Crisis and Hunger in
Northeast Nigeria

Constant displacement and instability have caused food production in northeast Nigeria to plummet. Amid the chaos and violence, food prices have soared while the nation relies on imported food that, in previous years, farmers had grown domestically. For example, Borno state, the current epicentre of the crisis, once produced 25% of the nation’s wheat. It now produces virtually none. Similarly, over the past 10 years, sorghum production in Borno has dropped by 82%, rice by 67% and millet by 55%, according to the International Crisis Group. Livestock has also been decimated and those animals remaining in the communities are often stolen by insurgents to fund the purchase of weapons and ammunition.

Insurgent attacks and the military’s response have destroyed essential infrastructure, including hospitals, clinics and schools, as well as markets and trade routes. Insurgents also kidnap farmers or extort money from them to “allow” the farmer to continue living and working on their own land. Humanitarian organizations, including International Medical Corps, struggle to reach these areas safely and deliver lifesaving assistance—and without humanitarian aid, community members become even more vulnerable to famine.

Access to populations in need remains a major challenge in northeast Nigeria. The insurgents’ sphere of control has increased, as has their capacity to conduct raids, disrupting the lives of area residents and displaced persons while hampering humanitarian relief efforts. Insurgent violence has added to the challenges of providing food assistance, treatment for malnutrition and other services where the needs are the greatest. Currently, 43% of displaced northeast Nigerians live in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), while the rest of the displaced persons live in host communities or in makeshift camps, making them more difficult to identify, protect and provide with lifesaving assistance.

International Medical Corps has worked in Nigeria since 2013. Today, we work in Borno and Kano states to provide healthcare, nutrition, gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response, food security and livelihoods support, and water, sanitation and hygiene services, providing lifesaving assistance to more than 65,000 people per month, primarily in IDP camps. We also are responding to the emergency needs of IDPs in Chad and Cameroon.

Through the Core Group Partners Project for Polio Eradication, International Medical Corps also has been a key partner in the eradication of the wild poliovirus in Nigeria, which was the last country on the African continent where it was found. With our partners, we continue to seek and prevent any forms of the virus in Nigeria through surveillance and vaccination programs, which we operate in remote and often dangerous areas, like Borno state.