People buy and sell food at the Illaje market, in Bariga, Lagos. food prices have risen by an average of more than 22%, according to official statistics, and feeding a family properly has become a daily challenge. (Photo by Benson Ibeabuchi / AFP)

Report released yesterday by an international child rights group, Save the Children, indicated that about 15.6 million children in Nigeria faced hunger as the lean season starts in June.

According to the new analysis by Save the Children, the number of hungry children is 25 per cent higher than in the same period in 2023, and is likely the result of increasing insecurity, protracted conflict, banditry and rising food prices in the West African country. It also represents one out of six children in Nigeria.

According to the analysis of figures released by Cadre Harmonisé, a regional framework to identify food and nutrition insecurity in the Sahel and West Africa, almost 32 million people in Nigeria, including 15.6 million children, will face crisis levels of hunger between June and August unless food and cash assistance are received.

While these months between harvests are when hunger typically peaks in Nigeria, a quarter more children are set to go hungry compared to 2023.

Save the Childrens Country Director for Nigeria, Duncan Harvey, said: An already dire hunger situation in the country is gradually going from bad to worse as violence, insecurity and rising prices combine to leave over 15 million children hungry in Nigeria.

Hunger exists nationwide, but the situation in the north where violence is rife is particularly dire. In Borno, Yobe, Katsina and Zamfara, one in three children do not know where their next meal will come from. 

Children in Nigeria, who make up one of the largest child populations in the world have already endured far too much, as millions face conflict, violence and exploitation.

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