More than 17 million people across northern Nigeria are facing severe hunger as conflict, displacement and funding shortages drive food insecurity to its worst levels in nearly a decade, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday (2 July).
The agency said its latest food security assessment found nearly two million more people are now facing crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger than previously projected.
The crisis spans nine conflict-affected states, where violence by Islamist insurgents in the northeast and armed criminal gangs across other northern regions has displaced communities, cut off access to farmland and restricted humanitarian operations.
The situation is worsening during the annual lean season, when households typically exhaust their food supplies before the next harvest.
In Borno State, more than three million people are acutely food insecure, including more than 750,000 facing severe hunger and more than 10,000 experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger.
WFP said humanitarian access has deteriorated sharply, with the number of inaccessible areas doubling and major supply routes increasingly disrupted by attacks and illegal checkpoints.
The agency said it can now support only 740,000 people across three northeastern states, down from 1.3 million during the 2025 lean season, despite 6.2 million people in the region requiring food assistance.
“What concerns us most is how this crisis is expanding,” said 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.”
WFP warned that shrinking food assistance is forcing many people to adopt desperate coping strategies, including joining armed groups in exchange for food or income.
The agency also said women and children in camps where aid has been suspended face increasing risks of exploitation and gender-based violence.
WFP said it urgently needs US$89 million over the next six months to sustain food, nutrition and logistics support across northern Nigeria.
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