The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that more than one million people in northeast Nigeria could be cut off from life-saving food and nutrition assistance within weeks unless urgent funding is secured.
In a statement released on Thursday, the global humanitarian agency said Nigeria is grappling with one of its worst hunger crises in recent years, exacerbated by renewed violence, displacement and the destruction of livelihoods across the northern region.
According to the WFP, escalating insecurity has forced the organisation to drastically scale down its food assistance programme in the northeast from about 1.3 million beneficiaries to just 72,000 people.
“Violence is surging across the north, and WFP is being forced to slash food assistance from 1.3 million people down to only 72,000 people,” the agency said.
The WFP’s Nigeria Country Director, David Stevenson, warned that the consequences of the funding shortfall could be dire, particularly for displaced populations living in camps.
“If WFP cannot continue supporting 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.
The agency disclosed that nearly 35 million people across Nigeria are projected to face acute and severe food insecurity during the upcoming lean season. This includes about 15,000 people in Borno State who are at risk of falling into catastrophic hunger, just one step away from famine.
WFP noted that the deepening crisis is unfolding amid renewed violence in the north, which has ravaged rural communities, displaced families and wiped out food reserves.
“Now is not the time to stop food assistance. Cutting support will have 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,” Stevenson said.
He added that humanitarian interventions remain one of the last stabilising forces preventing mass displacement and the spillover of insecurity into neighbouring regions.
The organisation described the current situation as the worst levels of hunger recorded in Nigeria in a decade.
To avert a shutdown of its operations in the northeast over the next six months, the WFP said it urgently requires $129 million in funding, warning that failure to secure the funds could force it to suspend critical life-saving activities in the region.
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