MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2020) The number of people in the Nigerian states of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe who will require some form of humanitarian aid throughout the year has risen 49 percent compared to 2019 as a result of the increased violence in the region and the instability caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday.
As many as four in five people in the three aforementioned states, comprising 10.6 million individuals in total, will need humanitarian assistance in 2020, a significant increase compared to the previous year, OCHA said.
"This is a 49 per cent increase in the number of people in need since last year, up from 7.1 million, mainly from increasing violence and insecurity further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is also the highest number of people in need estimated since the beginning of the coordinated humanitarian response five years ago," the organization said in a new report.
As many as 60,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the state of Borno throughout the first half of this year amid increased violence, OCHA said.
Furthermore, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted food distribution schemes in the region, potentially placing 4.3 million people at the risk of hunger, the organization said.
An insurgency led by the Islamist terror organization Boko Haram began in the region in 2009. Militants from the group killed five aid workers in late July, drawing international condemnation.
