Armed attacks, aid cuts provoke record hunger levels in Nigeria: WFP

25-Nov-2025

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Armed attacks, instability and aid cuts are pushing northern Nigeria towards record levels of hunger, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.

Nearly 35 million people in the north of the country are “projected to face severe food insecurity” from May to September 2026, the United Nations agency said in a report released on November 25.

The figure is the highest recorded in Nigeria – the most populous country in Africa – by the organisation since monitoring began.

A projected 15,000 people will face “catastrophic hunger” or “famine-like conditions” in Borno State, which has borne the brunt of “armed insurgent attacks” over the past 16 years, the report reads.

Malnutrition rates are highest among children in Borno, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, the WFP says. Nearly six million people lack basic minimum food supplies in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, which are mainly comprised of rural farming communities.

“The advance of insurgency presents a serious threat to stability in the north, with consequences reaching beyond Nigeria,” said David Stevenson, WFP’s Nigeria country director. “Communities are under severe pressure from repeated attacks and economic stress.”

Besides Boko Haram in the northeast, Nigeria also suffers violence led by armed gangs in the centre and northwest of the country, where they raid villages, kill people and kidnap for ransom.