The UN Is Extremely Wrong In Its 2025 Food Insecurity Projection For Nigeria: See Crucial Reasons And How To Help In Correcting The Information

161.4 Million out of 223.8 Million Nigerians are currently listed under the “people facing hunger” category of the global humanitarian organisation Action Against Hunger.

Going by this report, 72.1% of the entire population of Nigeria is deemed food insecure as you read this. Already, this by far exceeds the 33 million Nigerians projected to be “food insecure” in 2025 by a joint statement of 3 relevant UN agencies (ie. FAO, UNICEF, and WFP) in November last year. Imagine the difference!

By my evaluation, the huge difference between the two projections lies in the quality of data collection. My direct experiences in Nigeria indicate that the Action Against Hunger report represents the situation far more accurately.

On December 8, 2024, I called on the Nigerian government at all levels to declare a state of emergency on food security and establish soup kitchens across the country. That was after I identified that far more Nigerians were dying of hunger and hunger-related issues than were getting reported.

Not long after that, my report found ample brutal public confirmations when at least 67 Nigerians were reported dead due to hunger-related stampedes across multiple locations. Those Nigerians died in an attempt to access food at Christmas!

An Even Gloomier Outlook For 2025: What Can We Do?

One thing is constant amid all those disparities expressed above👆 and more: Not only the UN report but other indicators point to a gloomier food security profile for Nigeria this year than last.

By my finding, one of the major reasons many Nigerians are dying of hunger is that there is poor information on the situation. This is most likely because the Nigerian government provides wrong data to the relevant organisations for image-making purposes.

For example, as I've just shown above, the United Nations was still projecting that 33 million (that is about 15%) of Nigerians would be food insecure in 2025 whereas a simple observation on the streets of the country reveals that at least 6 in 10 residents were already victims of "mild" to "extreme" levels of food insecurity going by UN's own scale as you will see shortly.

Its identification of the causes of food insecurity in Nigeria in the referenced report further proves that the UN is out of touch with the realities in the country: The UN agencies claimed that “triple-digit increases in food prices, the aftermath of devastating floods, and 15 years of insurgency in the northeast” were the key factors behind acute food shortages in Nigeria. How come the world body failed to mention what should have topped the list, namely, the menace of the Fulani militia disguised as herders especially since 2015?

So, one of the ways I am helping to solve the food crisis in Nigeria is to help relevant organisations working for the realisation of food security in the country to take decisions and actions based on accurate data sourced directly from the masses. 

Here's How YOU Can Easily Help To Provide Such Accurate Data Right Away

According to a Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) document, a person is considered “food insecure when they lack regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life. This may be due to unavailability of food and/or lack of resources to obtain food”.

By contrast, the same FAO source also states that “people who are food secure have adequate access to food in both quantity and quality”.

The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) defines 3 levels of food insecurity as follows:

• MILD FOOD INSECURITY: According to FIES, a person is “mildly food insecure when facing uncertainty about continued ability to obtain adequate food”. So, are you facing any kind of uncertainty about your continued ability to obtain ADEQUATE food any time? If yes, you are officially food insecure.

• MODERATE FOOD INSECURITY: FIES again states that “people experiencing moderate food insecurity have been forced to decrease the quality and/or quantity of the food they consume”. So, have YOU been forced to decrease the quality or the quantity of the food you consume? If yes, you are officially moderately food insecure.

• SEVERE FOOD INSECURITY: According to FIES also, “people experiencing severe food insecurity have typically run out of food and, at worse, gone a day (or days) without eating”. Have you ever run out of food in the last 12 months? Or, at worst, have you spent 24 hours without eating just because you were unable to access food? If yes, then, you are officially severely food insecure.

So, to help in providing accurate data that will help to prevent absolutely unbearable hunger levels in Nigeria, I urge you to participate in the following poll in less than 5 minutes and then, share to let other people participate...

Conclusion 

Not minding that the November UN joint report on food insecurity in Nigeria showed abysmal low level of the appreciation of the situation, Chi Lael, Nigeria's spokesperson at UN's World Food Programme (WFP) rightly said during the Zoom presentation that "never before have there been so many people in Nigeria without food".

Lael also said:

Normally, I would speak on behalf of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) about the food security situation in northeast Nigeria. But today, I am making a joint statement for these are not normal times.

Really, "these are not normal times" in all of Nigeria - not just in the northeast. If Chi Lael could say so much even amid his obviously poor appreciation of the situation on ground, then, you can imagine what the actual situation is.

I am talking to you as someone who is deeply connected to the Nigerian street, not only by the virtue of my work as a social worker but also because I live right in the midst of the Nigerian masses both physically and digitally 24 hours in 7 days. 

In any case, the above poll is an opportunity for Nigerians to speak individually and collectively on the situation. So, it's no longer just me talking. See you oncemore soon. Thanks 🙏.