The United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has announced the release of 10 million dollars under the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to ameliorate the suffering of people who are experiencing food and nutrition crises in the Northeast.

This is contained in a statement by OCHA in Maiduguri on Monday.

The UN said no fewer than 1.74 million children less than five years are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in the Northeast this year.

Read Also: Kemi Jeje: Every chronic illness is borne out of malnutrition

It noted that more than 5,000 people were expected to die while those who survived could face lifelong disabilities.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Mr Matthias Schmale was quoted as saying: “We urgently need to close the funding gap to rapidly scale up the response and implement immediate life-saving measures.