Over 17m Nigerians face acute hunger, WFP seeks urgent $89m funding

By Editor

The World Food Programme (WFP) has appealed for $89 million to sustain food, nutrition and logistics support across northern Nigeria over the next six months as more than 17 million people grapple with acute hunger amid worsening insecurity, displacement and shrinking humanitarian funding.

The United Nations agency disclosed this in a statement, warning that the food security situation in conflict-affected northern states is deteriorating faster than previously projected.

According to the WFP, the latest Cadre Harmonisé food security assessment shows that more than 17 million people across nine conflict-affected states are experiencing crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger—an increase of nearly two million people from the previous projection.

The agency attributed the worsening crisis to the spread of insecurity beyond the traditional insurgency hotspots in the North-East, saying violence is increasingly displacing farming communities, restricting humanitarian access and disrupting food production.

“What concerns us most is how this crisis is expanding,” said Kinday Samba, WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“For years, insurgent attacks and violence were largely concentrated in parts of northeast Nigeria. Today, they are spreading across a much wider area and forcing people from farmland, driving displacement and restricting humanitarian access, meaning hunger is quick to follow.”

Samba warned that dwindling humanitarian resources are coming at a time when needs are rising sharply.

“When people lose access to food, the risks of displacement, exploitation and instability increase. Yet resources are at their lowest at the time they are needed most,” he added.

The WFP cautioned that without urgent financial support, the humanitarian situation could deteriorate further, worsening hunger, displacement and insecurity across northern Nigeria.

According to the agency, Borno State remains the epicentre of the crisis, with escalating insurgent attacks and declining humanitarian assistance exacerbating food insecurity.

More than three million people in the state are acutely food insecure, including over 750,000 facing severe hunger and more than 10,000 living under catastrophic hunger conditions.

The agency also reported that humanitarian access is becoming increasingly difficult, noting that the number of inaccessible locations has doubled, with 15 additional areas now classified as partially inaccessible due to insecurity, attacks on aid routes and illegal checkpoints.

Although an estimated 6.2 million people across the three North-East states require food assistance, WFP said it currently has the resources to reach only about 740,000 beneficiaries—down from the 1.3 million assisted during the peak of the 2025 lean season.

It warned that the suspension of food assistance in some camps has contributed to rising cases of exploitation, gender-based violence and reports of vulnerable people joining armed groups in search of food or livelihoods.

Earlier this year, the WFP disclosed that it spent about $5 million (approximately N7.4 billion) on shock-response and social protection interventions in Nigeria.

In March, the agency also warned that as many as 10.4 million people across West and Central Africa could slip into acute food insecurity if the conflict in the Middle East continues to disrupt global food supply chains.

Northern Nigeria has faced years of humanitarian challenges driven by insurgency, banditry, farmer-herder conflicts and climate-related shocks, all of which have displaced millions of people, disrupted agricultural production and undermined household food security.

Humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that persistent funding shortfalls are forcing them to scale back life-saving interventions despite rapidly increasing needs.