The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that more than one million people in northeastern Nigeria may lose access to emergency food and nutrition support within weeks unless fresh funding is secured, as violence and hunger intensify across the region.
In a statement on Tuesday, the agency said it would drastically scale back assistance, reaching only about 72,000 people in February. This marks a sharp drop from the 1.3 million people supported during last year’s lean season, which runs from May to October.
WFP estimates that up to 35 million Nigerians could face severe hunger this year. This would be the highest figure in Africa and the largest recorded since the agency began tracking food insecurity in the country.
The organisation has delivered food aid in northeastern Nigeria since 2015, supporting nearly two million people annually in conflict-affected areas.
“Despite generous contributions that sustained WFP’s life-saving assistance to the most vulnerable in recent months, those resources have now been fully depleted,” the agency said.
David Stevenson, WFP’s Nigeria Country Director, warned that the funding shortfall could trigger “catastrophic humanitarian, security and economic consequences” for displaced people struggling to find food and shelter.
Renewed violence has displaced about 3.5 million people in recent months, wiped out food stocks, and pushed malnutrition to critical levels in several northern states. Attacks by armed groups have also forced many farmers to abandon their farmlands, officials said.
Last week, gunmen abducted more than 150 worshippers during coordinated attacks on three churches in northwest Nigeria.
Nigeria has also been affected by a major reduction in UN food assistance following US President Donald Trump’s decision to slash funding for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The cuts have worsened food shortages across the region.
In July, WFP suspended food assistance across parts of West and Central Africa, deepening the crisis in countries already battling conflict and hunger.
