Northern Nigeria is facing its worst hunger crisis in nearly a decade as escalating insecurity, dwindling humanitarian funding and worsening access constraints push millions deeper into acute food insecurity, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.
The UN agency said more than 17 million people across nine conflict-affected northern states are now experiencing crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger, marking an increase of almost two million people from the previous assessment.
According to the latest Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis, the deteriorating security situation—particularly in the North-East—is forcing families from their homes and farmlands, disrupting humanitarian operations and leaving millions without life-saving food assistance.
Borno State remains the epicentre of the crisis, where renewed insurgent attacks and the suspension of food assistance in some locations have pushed more than three million people into acute food insecurity.
Of that number, more than 750,000 people are experiencing severe hunger, while over 10,000 have descended into catastrophic hunger—the highest classification of food insecurity and one associated with famine-like conditions.
Although those facing catastrophic hunger represent a relatively small proportion of the state’s population, WFP described the figures as evidence of a rapidly worsening humanitarian emergency.
“What concerns us most is how this crisis is expanding,” said WFP Country Director Kinday Samba.
“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.”
The agency said deteriorating security has significantly curtailed access to vulnerable communities, with the number of partially inaccessible locations for humanitarian workers doubling in recent months.
An additional 15 areas have also become difficult for WFP personnel to reach due to insecurity, while attacks and illegal checkpoints along key transport corridors continue to disrupt the movement of relief supplies, forcing aid agencies to rely on costly air transport in several locations.
Beyond insecurity, WFP identified severe funding shortfalls as a major driver of the worsening crisis.
The agency said that although about 6.2 million people are currently food insecure across the three insurgency-affected North-East states, available resources are sufficient to assist only about 740,000 people.
As a result, approximately 5.5 million people—many of them women and children—are without essential food and nutrition assistance.
The figure represents a sharp decline from the 1.3 million people WFP supported during the peak of the 2025 lean season.
WFP warned that the suspension of food assistance in several displacement camps is forcing desperate families to adopt dangerous coping mechanisms, with communities reporting cases of individuals joining armed groups in exchange for food or income.
The agency also expressed concern over rising incidents of exploitation and gender-based violence, particularly affecting women and children, following cuts to humanitarian assistance.
“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,” Samba said.
The latest assessment further revealed that Nigeria’s food crisis extends well beyond conflict-affected northern communities.
Nationwide, an estimated 36.2 million people are experiencing food insecurity as persistent insecurity, soaring inflation, climate-related shocks and economic pressures continue to undermine household purchasing power and agricultural production.
The worsening humanitarian outlook comes as aid agencies grapple with declining donor support amid multiple global emergencies competing for limited humanitarian resources.
WFP warned that without urgent intervention, hunger, displacement and instability could intensify across northern Nigeria and potentially spill over into neighbouring countries.
To sustain emergency food assistance, nutrition programmes and humanitarian logistics over the next six months, the agency said it urgently requires an additional 89 million dollars in funding.
It appealed to international donors and development partners to scale up support, warning that failure to act could reverse years of humanitarian progress and deepen one of West Africa’s longest-running humanitarian crises.
