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Nigeria
General Assembly:Second Committee
Isabelle Hoffman

MUN Position Paper

70% of the citizens in Nigeria live below the poverty line. 50,000 children in Nigeria are more

likely to die from lack of food and malnutrition. According to UN.org our world would need to produce

50% more food than it does currently in order to feed every person by 2050. Climate change and global

warming does however, affect the crops we are trying to grow. Over 25% of crops, land, oceans, and

forests Are being depleted (UN.org food). This feeds the problem we have with our crops because we

need these resources in order to grow our crops and get food from them. If we were ever able to come up

with another way to grow our food and produce food in general then we would eventually end this

problem. Climate change is both a natural and man made issue. Climate change or global warming has

negative impact on the global environment. Some of these devastating effects include volcano, landslide,

erosion, flooding, drought, pests and diseases. (Africanjournalsonline.com) These issues are a constant

threat to Nigeria as well as their food security at all times. Some solutions that were accumulated are

reducing the emission of greenhouse gases by stopping deforestation; use of high yield and

disease-tolerant crops and crops adaptable to extreme weather conditions; farmers to cultivate their crops

when rains are expected rather than during planting seasons. The paper concludes that the menace of

environmental degradation occasioned by climate change has affected agricultural production in

sub-Saharan Africa in general and Nigeria in particular and must be tackled with all seriousness it

deserves. (Africanjournalsonline.com)

National Actions

According to BBC.com when the grain market crisis was happening in 2009 Nigeria went

through a rice shortage. Nigerias rice is in very high demand. It made the country rethink their
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production of rice as well as food security over being able to produce basic food needs as well as food

supply in local markets. After this debacle they made rice farming a larger priority for the following two

years. UN.org also stated that about 795 million people in the world suffer from undernourishment. Thats

1 in 9 people in the world who dont have access to food. Hunger and malnutrition are the number one

health risk worldwide. Its a larger problem than AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis combined.

UN Actions and International Access

The UN backed over 4.7 million vaccinations that were given to children in Nigeria to prevent

measles. (UN.org) Along with that the UN also gave Nigeria and 8 other countries 100 million dollars

from the UNs emergency response fund. In the north east parts of Nigeria food security is a very big

issue. According to oced.org One out of three people in North-East Nigeria (or 4.6 million people) is

currently faced with acute food insecurity. 55,000 people face the threat of famine (phase 5) in the worst

affected and less accessible pockets of Borno state. 1.8 million people are internally displaced within the

three states of North-East Nigeria (Adamawa, Borno and Yobe). FAO's assistance in Nigeria focuses on

five broad priority areas: Improvement in national food and nutrition security; Support for agricultural

policy and regulatory framework; Support to the Agricultural Transformation Agenda for priority value

chains and promote decent employment for youth and women, increasing agricultural productivity and

creating an enabling environment for increased market access; Sustainable management of natural

resources; Improved disaster risk reduction and emergency management (according to FAO.org) the

activities of the Boko Haram insurgency in its Northeast region have displaced 1.8 million people and left

another 4.7 million in need of emergency food assistance in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states. Three

million of them are in Borno State, the epicenter of the insurgency. (according to WFP.org)
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Recommendation for Action (Resolution Ideas)

"Food." United Nations. United Nations, n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2017.

http://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/food/index.html

"Nigeria's Plans to Stop Importing Rice." BBC News. BBC, 31 Jan. 2017. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-38690500

"FAO Country Profiles:Nigeria." FAO Country Profiles:Nigeria. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb.

2017.

http://www.fao.org/countryprofiles/index/en/?iso3=NGA

"Nigeria." Nigeria | WFP. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

http://www1.wfp.org/countries/nigeria

"AFRREV STECH: An International Journal of Science and Technology." Impact of

Climate Change on Food Security in Nigeria | Osuafor | AFRREV STECH: An International Journal

of Science and Technology. N.p., 1 Nov. 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2017.

http://www.ajol.info/index.php/stech/article/view/103132
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