- On 8 January, armed groups coordinated several attacks in Maru Local Government Area in the Northwestern State of Zamfara killing five people and abducting at least 200, mostly women and children. This mass kidnapping follows a series of other recent attacks in the same State, the last one reported in Gana town on 5 January with at least 46 persons kidnapped.
- Since 2018, the Northwest is plagued by an increase of violence and insecurity stemming from long-standing tensions between ethnic groups, evolved into and compounded by attacks from criminal groups and armed bandits.
- This has led to a dire humanitarian situation with over 670,000 people displaced in the most affected States being Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Sokoto and alarming levels of food insecurity – 11.7 million people requiring emergency food assistance in the next lean season- and life-threatening malnutrition among children.
- Despite of the growing humanitarian needs in the Northwest, the situation remains significantly underreported and suffers from a lack of adequate support and coordination. DG ECHO has identified the Northwest as a forgotten humanitarian crisis.
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