International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) have called on the government, donor partners and foreign communities to expedite actions to safeguard the lives of 600,000 severely malnourished children in some northern states.

The call was made during the commemoration of the 16th Africa Food Security and Nutrition Day, jointly marked by members of the Nigerian INGO Forum, including Save the Children, Action Against Hunger, Plan International, SOS Children’s Villages, Oxfam, CARE, CAFOD, Malteser International, and INTEROS.

Country Director of Save the Children, Duncan Harvey, while speaking at the joint press briefing organised by the INGOs, harped on the recent report indicating that 600,000 under the age of five would be at risk of severe acute malnutrition in six states of Adamawa, Borno, Yobe, Katsina, Sokoto, and Zamfara from October to December 2025.

The report had emphasised that 96,000 of these children are likely to die if they don’t have access to life-saving treatment.

Harvey said it means 1000 children may die daily due to malnutrition.

“I have been to Katsina, Sokoto, and seen so many malnourished children. The Doctors Without Borders once told us that sometimes they have recorded over 1000 admissions of malnourished children,” he explained.

Harvey stressed the need for the Federal Government to deliberately release funds for life-saving nutrition commodities like ready-to-use therapeutic foods and milk locally produced and proven to save lives

He appealed that the Federal Government, in the next three months, must save the 600,000 children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM).

Country Director of Action Against Hunger, Thierno Diallo, while releasing the food security situation report in the country, revealed that 31 million people are to suffer acute food and nutrition insecurity, while 5.4 million children are affected by acute malnutrition. Out of these, 3.5 million children under age five suffer from SAM, and 1.2 million require immediate life-saving treatment.

Director of Programmes Quality and Influencing at Plan International Nigeria, Helen Idiong, while reading the recommendations, urged the government to provide long-term funding to ensure sustained nutrition, security and development.

She also called for a stronger political commitment and policy enforcement to treat food and nutrition security as a fundamental human right.

The INGOs emphasised that severe malnutrition has irreversible impacts on physical growth, cognitive development, and economic productivity, critical to national human capital; hence, all hands should be on deck to prevent it.