The spokesman to the Acting President of Nigeria, Laolu Akande, has revealed that half of the food aid sent by the government to about 1.8 million people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast has been diverted.

This year, about 1.5 million people are reported to be exposed to famine in the region, where 20, 000 people have been killed by the Islamic militants. By this reason, the Acting President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, on June 8 launched a programme to distribute 40,000 metric tons of food to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

“Over 1,000 trucks of assorted grains are now on course, delivering the grains intact to beneficiaries since the commencement of the present programme as against the reported diversion of over 50 trucks in every 100 trucks sent to the northeast,” he explained adding that the “issue of diversion of relief materials, including food and related matters, which has dogged food delivery to the IDPs would be significantly curbed under the new distribution matrix.”

In order to ensure safe delivery, 1, 376 military personnel and 656 armed policemen would be deployed to guard the food from the warehouses to where they will be distributed to the displaced people in the three states, Akande said.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has reduced emergency feeding in the northeast by 400, 000 people, due to a funding shortfall. The Intergovernmental body said it needs $1.05 billion this year to resolve the humanitarian crisis, but so far has only gotten just over a quarter of the money.

Anita Fatunji