The Nation Newspaper

Tag: WFP

  • WFP, Yobe Agric agency collaborate on food security

    WFP, Yobe Agric agency collaborate on food security

    The Yobe State Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have expressed their commitment to ending hunger in the state.

    During a visit by a WFP team to ADP office in Yobe, the organisations expressed concern over the need to ensure that people displaced by Boko Haram insurgency received food assistance and seeds for planting through collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).

    ADP’s Programme Manager Alhaji Mustapha Goggobe told the team led by WFP Head of Area Office, Maiduguri, Ms. Mutinta Chimuka, that WFP had been a worthy partner in the fight against hunger, not only in the state but also in the entire Northeast where insurgency forced many people to flee their homes.

    “We are the implementer with WFP in Yobe and government representative coordinating with the food sector working group in the state. We share ideas that help support WFP intervention against hunger in the Northeast Nigeria,” said Goggobe.

    “We acknowledge WFP’s role in fighting hunger in Yobe through food distribution and cash transfers to internally displaced people. We have been partnering with WFP for long together with FAO especially on seed distribution and protection. WFP is a strong ally and partnership is one of the best ways to ensure food security in the state,” he said.

    “In fact, we are making a lot of impact because of partnership with WFP. Partnership is good in this kind of work on food security. The last time FAO was distributing seed at Yusufari Local Government while WFP was distributing food. We like this kind of partnership. It is a success story to see WFP in Yobe,” he said.

    Responding, Chimuka said: “For us the emergency assistance and saving lives is important. Through the support of authorities, we have been able to impact lives. We thank the government of Nigeria. Also, through the support of Yobe State government and its agency ADP; and other state authorities we are continually feeding people in dire need of food assistance in the Northeast Nigeria.”

  • Germany gives 25.5m euro to WFP

    Germany has contributed €25.5 million ($28.5 million) to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to assist more than 730,000 hungry people in the four-nation Lake Chad Basin region that is battling the devastating Boko Haram insurgency, among other shocks.

    The contribution is meant to support WFP’s activities in Nigeria (€10.5 million), Cameroon (€5.6 million), Chad (€4.7 million) and Niger (€4.7 million). The funds are especially timely, as the imminent lean season – the period between harvests – is depleting people’s resources and intensifying hunger and malnutrition.

    More broadly, this support illustrates Germany’s generous and continuing response to the UN’s call for global, immediate action to address the Lake Chad Basin emergency, Africa’s largest humanitarian crisis. Northeast Nigeria, receiving the biggest share of assistance, risks tipping into famine.

    “When I travelled to the Lake Chad Basin recently, I found a critical humanitarian situation,” said Hinrich Thölken, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the International Organizations in Rome. “A huge number of internally displaced people are in urgent need of food assistance, and WFP is well-placed to deliver quick and effective relief. We are happy to give additional support so WFP can do so.”

    The German contribution will support WFP’s food and cash-based assistance to more than 680,000 internally displaced people and refugees in the four countries. It will also benefit 17,000 young pupils in Niger and Cameroon who are enrolled in WFP’s emergency school meals programme. In addition, it will allow 40,000 children under five to receive special fortified foods that fight malnutrition.

    “At a time when WFP faces a sizeable funding shortfall in our emergency response across the Lake Chad Basin region, Germany’s contribution is extremely welcome news,” said Abdou Dieng, head of WFP’s Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa.

    “It will help us reach thousands of the most vulnerable at a time when hunger is increasing with the approaching lean season, when people’s stocks are running out before the next harvest.”

    Germany, which has consistently remained a key supporter of WFP operations globally, became its second largest donor in 2016.  Through their enormous generosity, the people and government of Germany have helped to save lives in many crises, including operations in Syria, as well as to refugees in neighbouring countries, where millions of people rely on WFP assistance every day.

  • Germany donates €25.5m to WFP’s emergency response

    Germany donates €25.5m to WFP’s emergency response

    Germany has contributed €25.5 million (US$28.5 million) to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to assist more than 730,000 hungry people in the four-nation Lake Chad Basin region battling the devastating Boko Haram insurgency, among other shocks.

    According to a statement by WFP, the contribution supports its activities in Nigeria (€10.5 million), Cameroon (€5.6 million), Chad (€4.7 million) and Niger (€4.7 million).

    The funds WFP noted are especially timely, as the imminent lean season – the period between harvests – is depleting people’s resources and intensifying hunger and malnutrition.

    More broadly, this support illustrates Germany’s generous and continuing response to the UN’s call for global, immediate action to address the Lake Chad Basin emergency, Africa’s largest humanitarian crisis. Northeast Nigeria, receiving the biggest share of assistance, risks tipping into famine.

    “When I travelled to the Lake Chad Basin recently, I found a critical humanitarian situation,” said Hinrich Thölken, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the International Organizations in Rome. “A huge number of internally displaced people are in urgent need of food assistance, and WFP is well-placed to deliver quick and effective relief. We are happy to give additional support so WFP can do so.”

    The German contribution will support WFP’s food and cash-based assistance to more than 680,000 internally displaced people and refugees in the four countries. It will also benefit 17,000 young pupils in Niger and Cameroon who are enrolled in WFP’s emergency school meals programme. In addition, it will allow 40,000 children under five to receive special fortified foods that fight malnutrition.

    “At a time when WFP faces a sizeable funding shortfall in our emergency response across the Lake Chad Basin region, Germany’s contribution is extremely welcome news,” said Abdou Dieng, head of WFP’s Regional Bureau for West and Central Africa. “It will help us reach thousands of the most vulnerable at a time when hunger is increasing with the approaching lean season, when people’s stocks are running out before the next harvest.”

    Germany, which has consistently remained a key supporter of WFP operations globally, became its second largest donor in 2016.  Through their enormous generosity, the people and government of Germany have helped to save lives in many crises, including operations in Syria, as well as to refugees in neighbouring countries, where millions of people rely on WFP assistance every day.

    WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.

  • 1.8m in Nigeria’s Northeast at risk of starvation – WFP

    At least 1.8 million people are at risk of starvation in northeast Nigeria, victims of the Boko Haram insurgency that is undermining efforts by the World Food Programme (WFP) to ferry in aid, it said on Friday.

    The insurgency has killed more than 15,000 people since 2009 and forced some two million from their homes. The Nigerian army, backed by neighbours, has retaken most areas held by the group, but it has recently stepped up attacks and suicide bombings.

    Aid groups entering the region in recent months have warned that shortages of food, shelter and medical care were threatening refugees with widespread famine and disease.

    WFP executive director, Ertharin Cousin, said in all an estimated 4.4 million people were in need of food assistance in the northeast, though the full scale of the crisis was still unknown as some areas remained unreachable.

    “The challenge is that there are areas in (Boko Haram heartland) Borno State in particular that are still inaccessible, and we have no idea of the food security situation (there),” Cousin told Reuters.

    Even in parts of the northeast held and defended by the army, Boko Haram attacks were jeopardising aid programmes, she added.

    In January, the WFP failed to reach some 300,000 people of the 1.3 million targeted because of bombings of camps for internally displaced people and attacks on markets.

    The executive director told reporters a colleague who visited areas recently recaptured from Boko Haram compared the state of women and children there to images of people liberated from Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps in World War II.

  • WFP to support one million IDPs in Northeast

    The Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), Ms. Ertharin Cousin, has said one million returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the North-East will be assisted with improved seeds and agricultural inputs during the 2017 cropping season.

    The beneficiaries are drawn from the Boko Haram affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

    Cousin disclosed this Friday in Damaturu, Yobe, when a delegation of the WFP paid an official visit to Governor Ibrahim Gaidam at the Government House.

    She said the 2017 Agricultural Input Support (AGRIS) was to improve productivity of farmers, fight hunger and poverty in the affected sub-region of the country.

    She said, “Out of the three most affected states, Yobe alone has 350, 000 people that will benefit from the WFP arrangement aimed at reducing poverty and unemployment in the state.

    “In January this year, WFP will support one million people across the three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe who are still in need of assistance.

     

    “In Yobe, 350,000 people will be assisted in rebuilding process that includes agriculture, which is aimed at checking hunger and poverty among the people who suffered insurgency over the years.

    “We must return these states bedeviled by Boko Haram to the pre-conflict era and that require us to work assiduously in partnership with other stakeholders to achieve the desired results.”

    “This agricultural programme was aimed at checking hunger and poverty among the people who suffered insurgency for over five years.”

  • UN to deliver food, nutrition supports to Borno, Yobe

    The United Nations said its agencies, the World Food Programme and UNICEF are increasing food and nutrition services to urgently reach 1.8 million people in Borno and Yobe States.

    Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Farhan Haq, said at a press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York on Tuesday that food insecurity had reached an extreme level in northeast.

    “in Nigeria, our colleagues from the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF are rolling out a rapid response mechanism to deliver food, health and nutrition services in difficult-to-reach areas in Borno and Yobe States,” the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quoted the UN official as saying at the briefing.

    “The two states are worst affected by hunger and malnutrition in northeastern Nigeria.

    “This is part of WFP’s larger response plan – to gradually scale up to reach 1.8 million people with urgent food and nutrition support throughout 2017.”

    According to him, food insecurity has reached an extreme level in parts of northeastern Nigeria, where 4.6 million people are going hungry.

    “Without urgent support, hunger will only deepen.

    “Since August, the number of people needing urgent food assistance has increased from about 1 million to 1.8 million in Borno and Yobe States,” he said.

    Haq also said the Security Council was meeting on the cooperation between the UN and regional organisations, including the African Union.

    “The Special Representative of the Secretary-General to the African Union, Haile Menkerios, told the Council that the conflicts we face in Africa today have grown in scale and complexity,” he added.

     

  • Africa tightens travel curbs on Ebola nations

    African countries tightened travel curbs on Thursday in an effort to contain the Ebola outbreak, ignoring World Health Organization warnings that such measures could heighten shortages of food and basic supplies in affected areas.

    In the West Point slum in Liberia’s capital Monrovia, the scene of violent clashes with the army on Wednesday after the area was quarantined to curb the spread of Ebola, hundreds of people jostled their way towards trucks loaded with water and rice.

    Police used canes to beat back some locals while aid workers helped others dip their fingers in ink to record their ration.

    “I ain’t eat since yesterday. I have four young children and none of us eat. I feel bad,” said Hawa Saah, a pregnant 23-year-old resident of West Point, told Reuters in pidgin English, common to this part of West Africa.

    The World Food Programme said deliveries of basic supplies to more than one million people across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone are intended to avoid a food crisis in those West African countries, where more than 1,300 people have died from Ebola in the worst outbreak of the disease in history.

    WHO, the United Nations’ health agency, has repeatedly said that it does not recommend travel or trade restrictions for Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria – the countries affected by the epidemic that began in March. Those countries are starting to suffer shortages of fuel, food and basic supplies due to these measures, it warned this week.

    Still, Chad’s Prime Minister, Kalzeubet Payimi Deubet, said on Thursday his country would close its border with Nigeria to prevent Ebola entering the country.

    “This decision will have an economic impact on the region but it is imperative for public health needs,” he said.

  • Ounje Aregbe :Fighting poverty through O’meal

    Ounje Aregbe :Fighting poverty through O’meal

    There were grim statistics for Nigeria from the recently released “State of School Feeding Worldwide Report”, compiled by the World Food Programme (WFP) which was recently launched at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The report had indicated that only one out of five school children get a healthy school meal in developing countries. The report also presented a gloomy picture for Nigeria’s school feeding programme highlighting that less than 500,000 school children get a decent meal in school. In that report, Nigeria and Cameroon shared the ignoble position of coming last.

    In 2004, Nigeria began a pilot project of Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSFHP) which was part of the Universal Basic Education Programme.  It was designed to feed elementary pupils in public schools. But out of the 13 states that participated in the programme, only one state remained committed to the continued implementation and improvement of the project: The State of Osun.

    Osun state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has been developing a simple theory with his re-organized school feeding programme in the state. For him, providing nutritious and healthy meals in schools has a direct link to mental development and the eradication of poverty.

    Therefore when in April 2012, he decided to review the school feeding programme with a bigger and better menu, he targeted not just the children but also the farmers in the state. The Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme (O’MEALS), which was the result of the new thinking in Osun has since surpassed most of its main objectives.

    One of the cardinal points of O’Meals is to increase enrolment and retention of school children in state primary schools.  Within four weeks of the commencement of the programme however, school enrolment has jumped about 25 percent in government primary schools. By June 30, 2012, enrolment increased from 155,318,000 to 194,253 from primaries 1-3.

    Basking in the euphoria of this success, the state government promptly widened the scope and included primary 4 in the scheme. The state now feeds a total of 252,793,000 students daily at the annual cost of N3billion naira.  From the report of the WFP, Osun state accounts for more than half of the total number of children getting healthy and nutritious school meals in Nigeria.

    The operation officer of O’meal, Mrs. Bunmi Ayoola, said the programme has achieved and surpassed its objectives of increasing school enrolment in the state.  She said the government also ensures that the food is prepared in a healthy and neat environment.

    “Balance diet helps in developing the brain’s capacity as well as cognitive response index of each child and it plays a major role in ensuring that children assimilate learning instructions fast and well,’’ she said.

    But increased enrolment was not the only intention of the Osun state government; reduction of poverty and boosting small and medium scale enterprise were also key points in the school feeding programme. According to the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, the rebirth of the school feeding programme has had positive impact on farmers. “As part of six points integral action plan of the state government to banish hunger, create employment and education for all; the School feeding programme has increased the enrollment of the pupils by 25 per cent within the two weeks of re-introduction, allowed farmers to engage in massive food production and encouraged learning in primary schools. Let me tell you that 80 per cent of food production by the farmers in the State will be used for feeding of our kids in the programme”.

    The deputy governor revealed that over 900 cocoyam farmers have been empowered by the government.

    “In order to ensure that the programme is sustained, we have encouraged our farmers to go into massive production of fish and chicken with which to feed the pupils. We have also directed our farmers to go into massive production of plantain, banana and very soon we are thinking on the possibility of going into massive production of rice and establish rice mills across the state to encourage our farmers,” she said.

    More than 3,000 women in the state have also been empowered to serve as the food vendors. The vendors are well kitted with modern cooking utensils and bowls at the cost of N152 million to the state government.  One of the vendors, Mrs. Esther Ogundipe said the programme has empowered her family. “Aregbesola has added value to my life; I am no more a housewife,’’ she said.

    Today, according to the Osun state government, 15,000 whole chickens are sourced weekly from local poultry farmers; 254,000 eggs sourced weekly; 35 heads of cattle purchased weekly from local cattle farmers and 400 tonnes of catfish purchased weekly from local fish farmers.

    Even though some have criticized the enormous cost of the programme, but the WFP said even in developed country, the amount spend by government on school meals is a worthy investment for the future. “This will help raise healthy adults for the future, it is a worthy investment by any government,” the world body said.

    At mid-day on any school day, the bell rang; food vendors immaculately dressed began to make preparations for the feeding of their wards. All across the state, the same process is repeated at every primary school. Meals like Yam Porridge, bread soaked in a steaming red stew with chicken to garnish, beans porridge and vegetables, all complemented with fruits were handed over to 250,000 children.  In Osun schools, time for break means time for “ounje Aregbe.”

     

     

  • Aregbesola fights poverty with O’Meal

    Aregbesola fights poverty with O’Meal

    Where were grim statistics for Nigeria from the recently released “State of School Feeding Worldwide Report”, compiled by the World Food Programme (WFP).

    The report, launched at the United Nations headquarters in New York, indicated that only one out of five school children get a healthy school meal in developing countries. The report also presented a gloomy picture of Nigeria’s school feeding programme highlighting that less than 500,000 school children get a decent meal in school. In that report, Nigeria and Cameroon shared the ignoble position of coming last.

    In 2004, Nigeria began a pilot project of Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSFHP) which was part of the Universal Basic Education Programme. It was designed to feed pupils in elementary public schools. But out of the 13 states that participated in the programme, only one state remained committed to the continued implementation and improvement of the project: The state is Osun.

    The state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has been developing a simple theory with his re-organised school feeding programme in the state. For him, providing nutritious and healthy meals in schools has a direct link to mental development and the eradication of poverty.

    Therefore when in April 2012, he decided to review the school feeding programme with a bigger and better menu, he targeted not just the children but also the farmers in the state. The Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme (O’Meals), which was the result of the new thinking in the state has since surpassed most of its main objectives.

    One of the cardinal points of O’Meals is to increase enrollment and retention of school children in state primary schools. Within four weeks of the commencement of the programme however, school enrollment has jumped about 25 per cent in government primary schools. By June 30, 2012, enrollment increased from 155,318,000 to 194,253 from primaries 1-3.

    Basking in the euphoria of this success, the state government promptly widened the scope and included primary 4 in the scheme. The state now feeds a total of 252,793,000 students daily at the annual cost of N3billion. From the report of the WFP, Osun State accounts for more than half of the total number of children getting healthy and nutritious school meals in Nigeria.

    The operation officer of O’meal, Mrs. Bunmi Ayoola, said the programme has achieved and surpassed its objectives of increasing school enrollment in the state. She said the government also ensures that the food is prepared in a healthy and neat environment.

    “Balanced diet helps in developing the brain’s capacity as well as cognitive response index of each child and it plays a major role in ensuring that children assimilate learning instructions fast and well,’’ she said.

    Fighting poverty and increasing enterprise

    But increased enrollment was not the only intention of the Osun State government; reduction of poverty and boosting small and medium scale enterprise were also key points in the school feeding programme. According to the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, the rebirth of the school feeding programme has had a positive impact on farmers.

    “As part of six points integral action plan of the state government to banish hunger, create employment and education for all; the school feeding programme has increased the enrollment of the pupils by 25 per cent within the two weeks of re-introduction, allowed farmers to engage in massive food production and encouraged learning in primary schools. Let me tell you that 80 per cent of food production by the farmers in the State will be used for feeding of our kids in the programme”.

    The deputy governor revealed that over 900 cocoyam farmers have been empowered by the government.

    “In order to ensure that the programme is sustained, we have encouraged our farmers to go into massive production of fish and chicken with which to feed the pupils. We have also directed our farmers to go into massive production of plantain, banana and very soon we are thinking on the possibility of going into massive production of rice and establish rice mills across the state to encourage our farmers,” she said.

    More than 3,000 women in the state have also been empowered to serve as the food vendors. The vendors are well kitted with modern cooking utensils and bowls at the cost of N152 million to the state government. One of the vendors, Mrs. Esther Ogundipe said the programme has empowered her family. “Aregbesola has added value to my life; I am no more a housewife,’’ she said.

    Today, according to the state government, 15,000 whole chickens are sourced weekly from local poultry farmers; 254,000 eggs sourced weekly; 35 heads of cattle purchased weekly from local cattle farmers and 400 tonnes of catfish purchased weekly from local fish farmers.

    Even though some have criticised the enormous cost of the programme, the WFP said even in developed country, the amount spent by government on school meals is a worthy investment for the future.

  • Aregbesola fights poverty with O’Meal

    Aregbesola fights poverty with O’Meal

    There were grim statistics for Nigeria from the recently released “State of School Feeding Worldwide Report”, compiled by the World Food Programme (WFP).

    The report, launched at the United Nations headquarters in New York, indicated that only one out of five school children get a healthy school meal in developing countries. The report also presented a gloomy picture of Nigeria’s school feeding programme highlighting that less than 500,000 school children get a decent meal in school. In that report, Nigeria and Cameroon shared the ignoble position of coming last.

    In 2004, Nigeria began a pilot project of Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme (HGSFHP) which was part of the Universal Basic Education Programme. It was designed to feed pupils in elementary public schools. But out of the 13 states that participated in the programme, only one state remained committed to the continued implementation and improvement of the project: The state is Osun.

    The state governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has been developing a simple theory with his re-organised school feeding programme in the state. For him, providing nutritious and healthy meals in schools has a direct link to mental development and the eradication of poverty.

    Therefore when in April 2012, he decided to review the school feeding programme with a bigger and better menu, he targeted not just the children but also the farmers in the state. The Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme (O’Meals), which was the result of the new thinking in the state has since surpassed most of its main objectives.

    One of the cardinal points of O’Meals is to increase enrollment and retention of school children in state primary schools. Within four weeks of the commencement of the programme however, school enrollment has jumped about 25 per cent in government primary schools. By June 30, 2012, enrollment increased from 155,318,000 to 194,253 from primaries 1-3.

    Basking in the euphoria of this success, the state government promptly widened the scope and included primary 4 in the scheme. The state now feeds a total of 252,793,000 students daily at the annual cost of N3billion. From the report of the WFP, Osun State accounts for more than half of the total number of children getting healthy and nutritious school meals in Nigeria.

    The operation officer of O’meal, Mrs. Bunmi Ayoola, said the programme has achieved and surpassed its objectives of increasing school enrollment in the state. She said the government also ensures that the food is prepared in a healthy and neat environment.

    “Balanced diet helps in developing the brain’s capacity as well as cognitive response index of each child and it plays a major role in ensuring that children assimilate learning instructions fast and well,’’ she said.

    Fighting poverty and increasing enterprise

    But increased enrollment was not the only intention of the Osun State government; reduction of poverty and boosting small and medium scale enterprise were also key points in the school feeding programme. According to the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, the rebirth of the school feeding programme has had a positive impact on farmers.

    “As part of six points integral action plan of the state government to banish hunger, create employment and education for all; the school feeding programme has increased the enrollment of the pupils by 25 per cent within the two weeks of re-introduction, allowed farmers to engage in massive food production and encouraged learning in primary schools. Let me tell you that 80 per cent of food production by the farmers in the State will be used for feeding of our kids in the programme”.

    The deputy governor revealed that over 900 cocoyam farmers have been empowered by the government.

    “In order to ensure that the programme is sustained, we have encouraged our farmers to go into massive production of fish and chicken with which to feed the pupils. We have also directed our farmers to go into massive production of plantain, banana and very soon we are thinking on the possibility of going into massive production of rice and establish rice mills across the state to encourage our farmers,” she said.

    More than 3,000 women in the state have also been empowered to serve as the food vendors. The vendors are well kitted with modern cooking utensils and bowls at the cost of N152 million to the state government. One of the vendors, Mrs. Esther Ogundipe said the programme has empowered her family. “Aregbesola has added value to my life; I am no more a housewife,’’ she said.

    Today, according to the state government, 15,000 whole chickens are sourced weekly from local poultry farmers; 254,000 eggs sourced weekly; 35 heads of cattle purchased weekly from local cattle farmers and 400 tonnes of catfish purchased weekly from local fish farmers.

    Even though some have criticised the enormous cost of the programme, the WFP said even in developed country, the amount spent by government on school meals is a worthy investment for the future.