'Severe lack of water' in Maiduguri refugee camp

Tens of thousands of people who fled Boko Haram in north-east Nigeria are now facing a severe lack of water, on top of already widespread food shortages and security threats, the AFP news agency reports, quoting aid workers.

For the past week supplies have been low at the Muna camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the city of Maiduguri after one of its five solar-powered water pumps broke down, AFP adds.

"We are facing a serious water shortage in the camp," said camp coordinator Tijjani Lumani, adding that the four other pumps on the sprawling site were "inadequate".

Muna camp, on the edge of the city, is currently home to some 41,000 people, Mr Lumani said.

The World Food Programme has said that 120,000 people in north-east Nigeria are expected to face famine this year.

The water drawn up from boreholes is used for cooking and, crucially, washing to prevent the spread of disease through the densely populated camp of makeshift tents.

Borno state governor Kashim Shettima confirmed on Sunday that there had been a "breakdown of water supply" at the camp but engineers were trying to fix the problem.

"The State Emergency Management Agency has so far supplied 105,000 litres of water using trucks," he said in a statement on his Facebook page .

Map shows Nigeria, with Abuja in the centre and Maiduguri in the north-east