Thousands Starving in Northern Nigeria Humanitarian Crisis

Thousands Starving in Northern Nigeria Humanitarian Crisis

By Michael Ireland, Senior Correspondent, ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net)

FALLS CHURCH, VA (ANS, October 6, 2016) -- A U.N. official declares massive famine is imminent in Nigeria and the surrounding Lake Chad area, with about six million people “severely food insecure” due to Boko Haram insecurity.

Toby Lanzer, U.N. Humanitarian coordinator for the region, said Friday that tens of thousands are dying.

Lanzer reported that in the next 12 months, as many as 80,000 children will die of starvation in northern Nigeria, in what he called the “biggest crisis facing any of us, anywhere,” according to the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, which is empowering a global movement to advance religious freedom as a universal right (www.21wilberforce.org).

“A few weeks ago, 21CWI (Twenty-first Century Wilberforce Initiative) Executive Vice President Elijah Brown and I traveled to Nigeria at the invitation of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) to present 21CWI’s report, ‘Nigeria: Fractured and Forgotten.’ During the 10-day visit, we engaged with more than 7,500 pastors, parliamentarians, journalists, and multi-denominational leaders. We were able to help further mobilize these Nigerian leaders,” said Nathan Wineinger, Director of Public Policy for The Wilberfoce Initiative, in a media update monitored by ASSIST News Service www.assistnews.net.

Wineinger said: “But the part of the trip that impacted me the most was not our meetings; rather, it was meeting the people who have been displaced and are living in temporary camps, seeing and hearing first-hand their suffering, and most importantly, their hope.”

He continued: “I visited the Gurku Interfaith Camp and interacted with amazing people who are working to counteract the pain and suffering Boko Haram has inflicted. Dr. Luka Saidu is displaced from Borno state, the area hardest hit by the terrorists. He takes no payment for the basic health services he offers. He dispenses medicines donated by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to combat malaria, typhoid, and worms. When I asked if any scripture has been important to him in this work, he said, “Yes, from Zechariah, ‘It is not by your power or might, it is by my spirit.’”

The Wilberforce Initiative says another example of courage in the face of persecution, among many, is IIbrahim Dauda, who was leading prayers in his church when Boko Haram attacked, spraying the congregation with bullets as they scrambled for safety.

“Later he was kidnapped, but escaped after falling out of a car, wrestling a terrorist, and running for two kilometers to safety,” Wineinger said.

Mr. Dauda, who is a teacher, is standing up to Boko Haram, which means, “Western Education is Forbidden.” Using tree cover as their classrooms, he and four others hold school for the children in the camp to give them a future.

“The situation has never been more dire,” said Wineinger.

Wineinger explained that education is one of the issues the camp Chairman, Mr. Adawara, cited as being a key challenge.

“Another is the lack of medicine,” he said. “It is evident the adults in the camp care most about their children. And even though the future is uncertain, he and others are working to build peace – a peace that will give their children hope, despite not being able to go home, despite food shortages, despite living day-by-day. Many are relying on their faith for that hope.”

Dr. Saidu, in describing all the hardship and poverty, said, “We don’t take of our wealth, we take of our faith.”

Listed below are ways you can help.

Action Items:

1) Work with your church to be a part of Solidarity Sunday on November 6, http://tinyurl.com/zkvjmfu

2) Currently, Nigeria is without an ambassador to the United States. Contact your Senators http://tinyurl.com/z3zhorg and ask them to quickly confirm Stuart Symington as the new ambassador to Nigeria.

3) Learn more about how Church of the Brethren http://tinyurl.com/gq2gj2a is an American church working with Nigerian churches, and consider how your church might also act.

4) Support the chance for children like the Gurku camp residents to defy their attackers and secure a future through education: http://goo.gl/PsFDSy.

Photo captions: 1) In the past 18 months distributions of food and supplies have supported many thousands of displaced people living through this crisis. (Photo by Karen Hodges). 2) Dr. Luka Saidu stands in his clinic. The only medicine he has is what has been donated by NGOs. (Photo: Nathan Wineinger). 3) Michael Ireland.

About the Writer: Michael Ireland is a volunteer internet journalist serving as Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, as well as an Ordained Minister who has served with ASSIST Ministries and written for ASSIST News Service since its beginning in 1989. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China, and Russia. Please consider helping Michael cover his expenses in bringing news of the Persecuted Church, by logging-on to: https://actintl.givingfuel.com/ireland-michael

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