Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno and Benue states are grappling with hunger following signs that key United Nations agencies may close or scale down their operations in Nigeria owing to dwindling funding, investigations by Daily Trust have shown.

The agencies are the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Internally displaced persons in some of the camps visited by our correspondents in Borno and Benue states, expressed fears that the decisions by the two emergency and disaster response agencies could compound the humanitarian challenges facing them.

SPONSOR AD

The IDPs at the camps in Borno were those who fled their homes owing to activities of Boko Haram insurgents; and those in Benue, as a result of attacks on their communities by gunmen.

The UNOCHA’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Professor Nentawe Goshwe, had, on April 16, disclosed the agency’s decision to pull out of Nigeria. He spoke during a workshop on the Anticipatory Action Framework for Nigeria, held at the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Office of the National Security Adviser, Abuja.

In a letter to staff shared on the agency’s website on April 11, the UNOCHA’s head, Tom Fletcher had announced “brutal cuts” driven by a nearly $60 million funding shortfall for 2025.

The agency had said it would scale back operations in Nigeria, Cameroon, Colombia, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Turkey and Zimbabwe, and aim to prioritize “dynamic and full responses” in remaining locations where it operates.

Similarly, the WFP had, on March 28, warned that 58 million people risk losing life-saving assistance in the agency’s 28 most critical crisis response operations due to “a steep decline in funding across its major donors.”

Rania Dagash-Kamara, WFP Assistant Executive Director for Partnerships and Innovation, had said the agency was facing an alarming 40 percent drop in funding for 2025, compared to last year.

We’ve suffered months of hunger – Borno IDPs

Internally displaced persons in Muna, Maiduguri, Borno State, told Daily Trust that they they had suffered months of hunger as a result of withdrawal of food intervention to IDPs’ camps across the state.

The chairman of Muna IDP Camp, Malam Abatcha Mustapha, said the IDPs endured months without food intervention from anywhere.

“We found ourselves in a very difficult situation when they stopped supplying food to us. It was only on Sallah day that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) supplied food to us.

“Our people are in a very difficult situation. We are waiting for a directive from the state governor to return to our ancestral homes in Dikwa and Mafa Local Government Areas.

“There are over 44,000 people here, once our communities are declared safe and the governor asks us to return, we will gladly do so because we are not happy living in the camp,” he said.

Abiso Kadi, chairman of the person living with disabilities in the camp, said, “Since the temporary withdrawal of feeding by NEMA and other interventionists in this camp, life became too difficult for us. I have no job to do here as a blind man. All I relied on was the handout from the NEMA.

“I’m a blind man, but for three months I have been struggling with what to eat unlike in the village where I cultivated my farmland. We were all displaced by Boko Haram insurgents. I’m tired of living in IDPs,” he said.

Ari Abdullahi, a farmer displaced by Boko haram in Dikwa, who narrated how insurgents shot his leg and rendered him disabled, said: “You can see that I now walk with crutches. So, there is less I can do for myself and I have not been getting any food assistance. We sometimes beg to eat. This is something I abhor.”

Nana Aisha, an IDP in the camp, from Mafa, said: “The way things are going on here is terrifying. Our little children are exposed to so many bad behaviors and we are not taking action.

“Most unfortunate part of it is that some parents relied on these children to feed them, not minding how they are getting the money.”

Food supply to IDPs not as frequent as before – NEMA

Speaking to Daily Trust, Head of Operations of North East, National Emergency Management Agency, Manir Gidado, confirmed the reduction of food intervention to the IDP camps, but said it was not a complete withdrawal.

“We do provide food to them time to time when the need arises, but not as frequent as before. We are now sensitising the IDPs on a global paradigm shift of our mandate.

“Part of it is to get firsthand information on the increasing cases of drug abuse, prostitution, security threats and other social vices within the camp.

“We also assured them of NEMA’s continuous support at all times in order to make them comfortable and readily prepared to go back to their ancestral homes in dignity.

“Also, we are going to engage with key stakeholders in the food security sector, where the state and federal government agencies would be involved on how to ensure people, especially the vulnerable ones, have three square meals per day without hindrance,” Gidado stated.

Our last food supply was in January – Benue IDPs

Some IDPs in Benue State said the last time they were supplied food was January, this year.

IDPs and official at the Agagbe IDP camp in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State, expressed worries over the challenge of accessing food.

Margaret Ter, a mother of nine at Block 8 in the camp in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State, told Daily Trust that she and other IDPs were facing serious hunger.

She said her heart was once lifted at the sight of weary mothers queuing for few grains of maize and handfuls of rice from government quarters or overstretched donors.

Ter, who alongside her husband had been in the camp since 2019 when armed invaders displaced them from their community in Sengev Council Ward of Gwer West, said life has not been easy for them, adding that things might worsen with the reduced aid from international agencies.

She said the last time the camp got food supplies from the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) was in January this year.

“We used to sell firewood or go to places where people were burning woods to make charcoal. We would pick up the leftover pieces and sell them just to buy food for our families. Sometimes, we go into the bush to fetch firewood, but we can’t do that often because these attackers are everywhere, hunting us down in the forest. Many women have been raped and others severely beaten.

“Now that it is mango season, we try to go and pick mangoes to sell. But even that, we can’t do as often as we would like because we fear falling into their trap. So, we are dealing with real hunger. These days, we sell a truckload of firewood for between N2, 000 and N3, 000. That amount can only buy a small portion of food, not to mention medical needs. The latest health issues in this camp are typhoid and malaria.”

“Our access to doing menial tasks to earn money are limited. For instance, there was a time some IDPs, not from this Agaigbe camp, went in search of firewood and three women from among them were captured by the armed invaders and held for three days. They were molested by their attackers within the period of captivity before they were released.”

Ibaah Terna Jacob, a former camp manager, alleged that though the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) delivered non-food items last weekend, there has been little support in terms of food supplies from government quarters in recent times.

He said apart from January this year when the State’s Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) supplied the camp food, there had not been any other delivery until the IOM brought non-food items.

“They are profiling at the moment. The items will be distributed today (Tuesday). All the while, we don’t get food from SEMA,” Jacob said.

The secretary of the Agagbe IDP Camp, Uvershigh Mathew Akpa, the current Agagbe IDP camp, said his family had been living in camp since 2021 after their displacement from their village in Mbachon Council Ward of Gwer West Local Government Area.

He said, “We have problem of food here. We also have problem of water. The last time, SEMA brought us food was in January, this year. Often, we sleep without food. That is because I don’t regularly get menial jobs to do. Most of the times, I go to places where construction work or buildings are going on in Agagbe town to seek for job as either a mason or helper.

“It’s the money I get paid for the job each day which ranges between N1,000 and N1,500 that my family used to buy small quantity of food for us to eat. The truth is that, life hasn’t been easy in the camp.”

Orama Benjamin, who is the leader of Block 1 at the Agagbe IDP Camp, complained, “To feed my wife and four children, I engage in three kilometres’ trekking to fetch water for people who in turn pay me between N1,500 and N2,000.

“Getting the water is often tougher challenge than even the trekking. When I’m paid for such services, we used the money to buy food and that is how my family has been managing since January when government people last showed up with food items.

“It certainly has not been easy managing life with my family in the camp. We were displaced from Tse-Ugor village in Mbachon council ward in 2021 and have been living in this camp,” Benjamin said.

At the Ichuwa IDP Camp along the Uniagric Road in Makurdi, Yev Gabriel, an ex-camp manager, said the IDPs were adversely affected by hunger as fewer nongovernmental organisations now visit the camp.

“The situation has been so bad because feeding is very difficult nowadays. It has not been easy. SEMA gave us food in January, after that, it was just last week we got another supply from them. The supply is no longer encouraging and not even as frequent as before.

‘We’re surviving doing menial jobs’

“It is terrible, but we are surviving doing menial jobs which are also hardly available anywhere just to get food for our family. The raining season too has not begun in so that our people can go out to work in farms where they would get money to buy food.

“We used to survive on the philanthropy of individuals and organisations, as some people can’t even afford one meal a day. But those gestures are dwindling,” he said.

Also, Mimidoo Kiva, a mother of three widowed by the crisis that displaced her family from their ancestral Tse-Nule village in Guma Local Government Area to take shelter at the Ichuwa camp, decried shortage of food, saying “The future looks bleak for us.”

Gideon Tyobee, who is the chairman of the Ichuwa IDP Camp, who had lived there for five years with his wife and four children, stated: “The camp is becoming very tough, starting from water scarcity to food and everything. If this absence of foreign support continues, the IDPs will be in danger.

“Following the prolonged dry season, we can’t go to people’s farms to work for money. So, we have no access to food, water or farmland.”

Another IDP at the Ichuwa Camp, Bagu Gloria said: “It is very hard to cope now, unlike when we used to receive interventions from NGOs or individuals. During the farming season, we could find farm work that paid around N1, 000 per day.

“But right now, some women are only able to sell small soup ingredients in front of the camp to support their families. Our major challenge now is access to food and healthcare.”

Barnabas Benjamin, who also stays in Ichuwa camp with his family, said: “It has been a long time since development partners visited us here in the camp, except for the Army women who came last Saturday.

“I’m a farmer, but I lost everything during the crisis that displaced us from Tse-Asoo village in the Yelewata area of Guma LGA. Otherwise, I would be doing what I know best.”

Why we couldn’t supply food to IDPs for 2 months – Benue govt

Benue SEMA’s Executive Secretary and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Sir James Iorpuu, explained that the IDP camps were not supplied food in February and March because there was no allocation to local governments from the federation account for the two months.

Iorpuu spoke during the recent monthly distribution of food and non-food items to IDPs across the state.

“We primarily get our funding from the local governments. There was no allocation between February and March, which is why the monthly distribution did not take place.

“We assure the IDPs that there cries have not gone unheard,” he stated.

He said that the state government had allocated 280 hectares of farmland to IDPs as part of its ongoing efforts to promote sustainable livelihoods and self-reliance among displaced communities.

He said this was part of an empowerment programme which had seen the formation of over 200 cooperatives among the IDPs.

He said the scheme was designed to provide food security and foster peaceful coexistence between IDPs and their host communities.

Iorpuu noted that the intervention, backed by the consistent support of Governor Hyacinth Alia, indicated the administration’s dedication to restoring the dignity and welfare of displaced citizens.

Humanitarian Affairs Ministry mum

When contacted to speak on how the ministry would salvage the situation, the Director of Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Mrs Rhoda Illyasu, declined comment.

Mrs Illyasu told one of our correspondents that she was on leave.

She promised to release the contact number of another person she said would respond to our qnquiry but she had not done so as of the time of filing this report.

Govt will fill the gap – Official

A top official at the national headquarters of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), who spoke to Daily Trust on a condition of anonymity, said the federal government would fill whatever gap the withdrawal of the UN agencies’ support might create.

“There is a government in place which will fill the gap the withdrawal of food aid that the withdrawal by any international agencies might create.

“The government will do everything humanly possible to ensure that the citizens do not suffer,” the official stated.