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No fewer than one million people in northeast Nigeria risk losing life-saving food and nutrition assistance within weeks unless urgent funding is secured, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.
In a statement released on Thursday, the global food agency said Nigeria is currently facing one of its most severe hunger crises in recent years, driven by escalating violence, displacement, and economic hardship.
The WFP, the world’s largest humanitarian organisation, provides emergency food assistance while supporting recovery from conflict, climate shocks and disasters. However, it says dwindling resources are forcing it to drastically scale back operations in the region.
According to the statement, WFP is being compelled to cut food assistance from 1.3 million people to just 72,000 due to funding shortfalls, at a time when needs are rising sharply.
“If WFP cannot continue supporting displaced populations in camps, they will leave the sites in a desperate attempt to survive,” said WFP’s Nigeria Country Director, David Stevenson.
“They may attempt to migrate elsewhere, or worse, turn to insurgent groups to feed themselves and their families.”
The agency warned 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 slipping into catastrophic hunger — one step away from famine.
WFP noted that renewed violence in northern Nigeria has devastated rural communities, displaced families, and destroyed food reserves, further deepening the crisis.
“Now is not the time to stop food assistance,” Stevenson said.
“Cutting support will result in catastrophic humanitarian, security and economic consequences for the most vulnerable people who have already been forced to flee their homes in search of food and shelter.”
He added that humanitarian interventions remain one of the last stabilising forces preventing mass displacement and wider regional spillover.
The WFP described the current situation as the worst level of hunger recorded in Nigeria in a decade and said it urgently requires $129 million to sustain its northeast operations over the next six months.
Without the funds, the agency warned that its food assistance programmes could be forced to shut down entirely.
