The UN World Food Program (WFP) has said that more than a million people in northeastern Nigeria could lose access to emergency food and nutrition aid within weeks unless funding is secured, as violence and hunger surge in the region.
The food agency of the United Nations said in a statement that it will sharply scale back assistance, limiting it to only 72,000 people in February, down from 1.3 million assisted during last year’s lean season, which runs from May to October.
According to WFP, 35 million people are likely to experience severe hunger in Nigeria this year, the highest figure on the continent and the largest recorded since the agency began collecting data in the country.
Malnutrition rates across several northern states have worsened too, reaching “critical” levels.
Nigeria is facing one of the worst hunger crises in recent times. The nearly 35 million people projected to experience acute and severe food insecurity during the 2026 lean season is according to the most recent Cadre Harmonisé – the equivalent of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) for West and Central Africa.
Of these, an estimated 15,000 people in Borno State are at risk of catastrophic hunger (IPC Phase 5) – one step away from famine. It’s the worst levels of hunger recorded in a decade.
The World Food Program asserted in its statement that despite generous contributions that sustained its life-saving aid to the most vulnerable in recent months, “those limited resources have now been exhausted.”
David Stevenson, WFP’s Nigeria Country Director, bemoaned that “now is not the time to stop food assistance.”
“This will lead to catastrophic humanitarian, security and economic consequences for the most vulnerable people who have been forced to flee their homes in search of food and shelter. Humanitarian solutions are still possible and are one of the last stabilizing forces preventing mass displacement and regional spillover.”
David Stevenson,
He added that if the World Food Program cannot continue supporting the displaced populations in camps, they will leave the sites in a desperate attempt to survive. “They will try to migrate, or they may join insurgent groups to feed themselves and their families,” Stevenson said.
USD129 million Needed To Sustain WFP Operations In Northeast Nigeria
The statement disclosed that WFP urgently requires USD129 million to sustain its operations in northeast Nigeria over the next six months.
It added that without this funding, the organization faces the risk of a full operational shutdown in the region.
WFP has been providing food assistance in northeast Nigeria since 2015, reaching nearly two million women, men, and children in hard hit areas each year.
WFP’s work in Nigeria combines emergency assistance with critical support to help communities withstand food shocks and reduce aid dependency over time. WFP’s home-grown solutions support the local economy by procuring assistance domestically to strengthen value chains and promote self-sufficiency.
However, renewed violence in Nigeria has displaced around 3.5 million people in recent months, destroyed food supplies, and worsened malnutrition to critical levels in several northern states.
Widespread attacks by various armed groups have deterred farmers from using their land, officials said. Last week, gunmen abducted more than 150 worshippers in simultaneous attacks on three separate churches in northwest Nigeria.
The West African country also has been hard hit by a massive scaling down of UN food assistance following US President Donald Trump’s decision to gut the United States Agency for International Development.
Nigeria is one of several countries in the region where the cut to USAID has deepened the food crisis. In July, WFP suspended food assistance across West and Central Africa.
READ ALSO: Trump Makes U-Turn On Tariff Threats Over Greenland
