A one-year-old child at Kafin-Koro, Paikoro LGA of Niger State, Christopher Yusuf, whose mother was kidnapped alongside dozens of others since March 14 in Adunu village has died from kwashiorkor, a sickness caused by malnutrition.
City & Crime reports that his death is coming at the time the internally displaced persons at the camp were lamenting the persistent hunger and malnutrition among children due to lack of food and other basic needs.
Daily Trust had reported how the mother of the suckling boy was asked to leave him behind when she was reportedly abducted by bandits who invaded Adunu and adjoining communities on March 14.
Rev. Fr. Bahago Dauda Musa, Coordinator, Justice, Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), Catholic Diocese of Minna, confirmed to City & Crime that the boy died on Thursday after suffering from malnutrition since his mother was abducted as he couldn’t take solid foods.
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“We lost him. We did our best but we couldn’t save his life. And the mother is still in captivity. He was born prematurely but had survived before his mother was kidnapped, leaving him without breast milk since March 14,” he said.
Rev. Fr. Dauda said quick humanitarian support was needed from government and well-meaning individuals, noting that the lives of many other children and adults were endangered due to lack of food and basic needs.
The residents said the bandits were demanding N100 million to the release of dozens of people in captivity including the mother of the deceased child.
They said two weeks after a meeting with the affected communities with a pledge to provide relief materials especially food, they were yet to receive any support from the Niger State government.
On Sunday, the State Commissioner for Internal Security and Humanitarian Affairs, Emmanuel Umar, and Director General, NSEMA, Ibrahim Inga, both told our correspondent that directive had already been given by the Secretary to State Government, Ibrahim Matane, to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the affected communities through provision of food and other basic needs.
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