United Nations Assistant Secretary General Toby Lanzer has said that if more donor support is not reached the emergency caused by Boko Haram will become the world’s worst humanitarian crisis adding that suffering in northeast Nigeria and surrounding areas was the worst he had ever witnessed.
Tony Lanzer reiterated that "I have worked in Darfur, [Sudanese region] The scale and the depth of suffering that I have seen [in Nigeria] is unparalleled in my experience.â€
The UN has appealed for a $739 million to cover up needs across the whole affected region known as the Lake Chad Basin but has received commitments for just $197 million.
According to Tony Lanzer, “If we don’t engage in a much more comprehensive manner, including scaling up our emergency relief programmes, what awaits us down the line is the biggest crisis facing any of us, anywhere,†he also cautioned that over 65,000 people are living in famine-like conditions irrespective of the fact that UN has not declared famine in the affected area.
The Boko Haram conflict, which commenced in northeast Nigeria in 2009, has displaced an estimated 2.6 million people.
At least 20,000 have died in violence blamed on the Islamists, but the numbers killed by causes linked to the conflict are likely much higher.