Over a Million Nigerians at Risk of Losing Emergency Food Aid, WFP Warns

More than a million people in northeastern Nigeria may lose access to emergency food aid unless funding is secured, as violence and hunger surge. WFP warned that assistance will drop from 1.3 million to 72,000 people in February, with 35 million Nigerians at risk of severe hunger this year.

More than a million people in northeastern Nigeria are at risk of losing access to emergency food and nutrition aid within the coming weeks unless urgent funding is secured, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday. The agency said that due to depleted resources, it will sharply reduce assistance in February, providing support to only 72,000 people, a significant drop from the 1.3 million people who received aid during last year’s lean season, which runs from May to October.
According to WFP, an estimated 35 million people across Nigeria are likely to experience severe hunger this year, the highest number in Africa and the largest recorded in the country since the agency began collecting data. The organization has been providing food assistance in northeastern Nigeria since 2015, reaching nearly two million people annually in conflict-affected and high-risk areas.
“Despite generous contributions that sustained WFP’s life-saving aid to the most vulnerable in recent months, those limited resources have now been exhausted,” the agency said in a statement. David Stevenson, WFP’s Nigeria Country Director, warned that the reduction in aid could have catastrophic humanitarian, security, and economic consequences for the most vulnerable populations, many of whom have been forced to flee their homes in search of food and shelter.
Violence in the region has intensified in recent months, displacing around 3.5 million people, destroying food supplies, and worsening malnutrition to critical levels in several northern states. Attacks by armed groups have prevented farmers from accessing their land, further reducing food production. In a recent incident, gunmen abducted more than 150 worshippers in coordinated attacks on three churches in northwest Nigeria, highlighting the security challenges that continue to exacerbate the humanitarian crisis.
The situation has been worsened by a significant reduction in UN food assistance following cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under former President Donald Trump. Nigeria is among several countries in West and Central Africa affected by the cuts, which have deepened the food crisis. In July, WFP had to suspend food assistance across the region due to funding shortages, placing millions of vulnerable people at even greater risk.
Humanitarian agencies are urging donors and governments to provide immediate funding to prevent further deterioration, restore food supplies, and protect the health and well-being of displaced and vulnerable populations in northeastern Nigeria.