By TOM CHIAHEMEN, Abuja –
The World Food Programme (WFP), the largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger worldwide, has unveiled a new country strategic plan (CSP) covering Nigeria’s North-East, North-West and the hosting Cameroonian refugees, with a total budget of US$2.56billion for five years.
WFP Representative & Country Director, David Stevenson, who made this known at the unveiling of the new CSP in Abuja on Wednesday, explained that the $2.5bn budget, approved by the Executive Board of the WFP, was meant to address the challenges posed by the deteriorating food and nutrition situation in Northern Nigeria.
The entire portfolio of assistance, which covers the period: 2023-2027, is designed to support Nigeria in achieving food security and improved nutrition by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 2), according to the Country Director.
WFP Country Director , David Stevenson
Stevenson also disclosed that the WFP was making significant investments in the Nigerian economy by investing over $770,000 (about N17.4bn) per day in the country through the purchase of over 90% of the food it distributes to vulnerable persons in the country.
He said the WFP would integrate its dual mandate by working on the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, applying targeted emergency responses that save lives while opening shock-responsive pathways to rapid recovery and resilience using a gender transformative, nutrition mainstreaming, climate smart, and conflict sensitive approach.
The CSP also seeks to contribute to progress in good health and wellbeing, inclusive education, gender equality and climate action and foster reinforced partnership in strengthening the national humanitarian and development response, all in accordance with the SDGs, he said.
He said the focuses of the WFP was on crisis response, resilience building and addressing the roots causes of food insecurity and malnutrition and includes five fully integrated outcomes, which are: ensuring that people are better able to meet their urgent food and nutrition needs; ensuring that people have better nutrition, health and education outcomes; ensuring that people have improved and sustainable livelihoods; ensuring that national programmes and systems are strengthened and; ensuring that humanitarian and development actors are more efficient and effective.
WFP Lean Response Plan in North-East Nigeria
Presenting a picture of the humanitarian situation in North-east region of Nigeria, Stevenson said “4.3 million people require food assistance during the lean season (June – August), of which
522,367 will be in the ‘emergency phase’ (Phase 4).
“Recurrent climate shocks with widespread crop loss from flooding, unprecedented food inflation and conflict have contributed to the deterioration of the situation. A quadrupling of severe acute malnutrition to 700,000 and 600,000 in Phase 4 emergency conditions. The remaining number are in Phase 3, crisis situation.”
To respond to the needs, he said the WFP would increase the number of people assisted with lifesaving food assistance from one million now in February to 2.1 million during the peak of the lean season before scaling down during the harvest period. The rest of the food security actors plan to assist 700 thousand people.
“This will leave a gap of 1.5 million people not assisted,” he said.
In addition, he said, the WFP would use in-kind food, electronic voucher or cash to provide the assistance.
“The transfer modality selection will be informed by multisectoral assessment which will consider market functionality, protection risks, government regulations, availability of financial infrastructures, beneficiaries’ preference and how the modality contributes to resilience supporting food systems or connecting farmers to markets,” Stevenson said.
WFP’s total funding requirement for 2023 is USD 473 million of which USD 400 million is to provide lifesaving food and nutrition assistance to the most vulnerable people in Northeast Nigeria.
He explained that the resources for WFP operations derive from voluntary contributions pledged solely to the WFP and that disbursements under the CSP would therefore be dependent pm the level of resources provided by donors to WFP.
“WFP urgently requires USD 255.5 million to meet assistance needs for the next six months (March to August 2023,” he said.
