Aid agencies have warned that at least six million people in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon face famine as a result of Boko Haram violence.

Oxfam, the international rescue committee and catholic relief services also warned that more than 65,000 people were living in severe hunger in pockets of Northeast Nigeria.

They added that over one million others were “one step away” from famine.

A statement issued by the Country Director for Nigeria for Action Against Hunger, Mr Yannick Pouchalan, stated that the groups have seen families who have not eaten for days with many begging for food.

The agencies claimed that conflict and counter-insurgency operations have led to farmlands, rivers and lakes being cut off from communities in and around the Lake Chad area that rely on agriculture and fishing to feed themselves.

Over six years of insurgency has left the region devastated.

Boko Haram terrorists are pushing for the establishment of an Islamic State and an end to Western education in the region, an agitation that has displaced over two million persons from the northeast.

The agencies statement on famine in the region and some neighbouring countries is coming weeks after UNICEF raised alarm of malnutrition in the region.

The UN agency had said if fears that 49,000 children are at risk of death if they do not get nutritious foods in the shortest possible time.

•Text courtesy of Channels TV. Photo shows a group of inocent children displaced by Boko Haram insurgency.