Nigeria

Around 110 million Nigerians, representing about 70 percent of the total population, live below the poverty line. Primary school enrolment rates are estimated at 70 percent for boys and 60 percent for girls.

Insurgent activities have added pressure to a fragile resource environment, deepened insecurity, hampered development and heightened the food and nutrition insecurity of vulnerable women and children.

While renewed government military initiatives against the insurgency are proving successful, Boko Haram attacks continue in Maiduguri city and other towns in the northeast.

Beset by violence, social disruption and economic hardship, thousands of northeastern Nigerian families are in desperate need of food assistance.

The humanitarian situation continues to worsen, as most displaced people do not have adequate access to food, water and other essentials.

The World Food Programme (WFP) supports national and state emergency agencies and humanitarian partners in assisting people displaced by conflict. WFP has been transferring operational know-how, providing technical support to strengthen food security data collection, enhancing the emergency response at displacement sites (including through food distribution), and providing safe and reliable air transport services to the humanitarian community.

WFP runs a joint Rapid Response Mechanism, with support from UNICEF, to supply food, nutrition and health support to people in hard-to-reach areas in Borno and Yobe states. This includes extensive use of helicopters and the pooling of logistics and telecommunications resources across the humanitarian community.

WFP distributes food and cash (including mobile-phone-based transfers) to 1.2 million people each month in Yobe, Adamawa and Borno. Those receiving assistance include displaced people living in camps or host communities, as well as vulnerable members of host communities and people returning home after months of displacement.