Resurgent jihadist attacks and instability in northern Nigeria are pushing hunger to unprecedented levels with thousands facing “famine-like conditions”, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.
Nearly 35 million people in northern Nigeria are “projected to face severe food insecurity during the 2026 lean season”, which stretches from May to September, the UN agency said in a statement.
In Borno state, the epicentre of the 16-year-long jihadist insurgency, around 15,000 people “are projected to reach catastrophic hunger” or “famine-like conditions”, WFP said in a statement.
The conflict has killed more than 40,000 people and displaced around two million others in the northeast and spilled into neighbouring countries.
Besides Boko Haram in the northeast, Nigeria also suffers violence led by “bandit” gangs in the centre and northwest, which raid villages, kill people and kidnap for ransom.
Last week alone, Africa’s most populous country experienced three mass kidnappings.
More than 300 students and teachers from a Catholic school were abducted in Niger state, 25 Muslim high school girls were snatched in neighbouring Kebbi state, and 38 worshippers were taken from a church during a service that was livestreamed in Kwara State.
While Nigeria’s insurgency has slowed since violence peaked around 2015, attacks have picked up since the beginning of the year due to a myriad of factors that have seen jihadist groups strengthen and security forces stretched thin.
May to September, the time between planting and harvest see people, especially in the rural areas, with little food reserves.
Normally, farmers would buy food — but with double digit inflation from an economic crisis, many cannot.
– Foreign aid cuts –
The WFP’s largest donor is the United States which, under President Donald Trump, has cut foreign aid, including to UN agencies.
Other big donors, including some European nations, have also shrunk their humanitarian budgets.
Almost a million people depend on WFP’s food aid in northeastern Nigeria, and the UN agency said funding shortfalls have forced it to start scaling down nutrition programmes in July.
Of the 500 nutrition centres that the WFP operates in northeast Nigeria, 150 shut at the end of July due to funding shortages, leaving more than 300,000 children at risk and driving malnutrition levels from “serious” to “critical” in the third quarter of the year.
Jihadist attacks have intensified this year with the Al-Qaeda affiliated Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) claiming responsibility for its first attack in Nigeria late last month.
“Communities are under severe pressure from repeated attacks and economic stress,” said WFP’s representative in Nigeria David Stevenson.
“Families are being pushed closer to the edge, and the need for support is rising.”
The west African country is currently in the throes of a crippling economic crisis as President Bola Tinubu implements reforms that have been praised by the IMF but seen the cost of living spike.
