The United Nations World Food Programme warned on Thursday that conflict in Nigeria’s north, together with shrinking humanitarian assistance, is driving a food crisis to levels not seen in nearly a decade.
News
It said recent data showed that more than 17 million people across nine conflict-affected states are experiencing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of hunger.
“Across all of northern Nigeria we have been seeing an increase and spread in insurgent attacks and violence,” said Serigne Loum , WFP’s Deputy Country Director in Nigeria.
“Families are being forced from their home and it’s getting harder for WFP to access people who urgently need food assistance,” he said.
Details
Nigeria has been battling a jihadist insurgency centred in the north-east since 2009, with a resurgence in violence since 2025.
Jihadists have also been expanding into the north-west, which is already facing a separate, overlapping crisis from armed “bandit” gangs.
The WFP said the expanding conflict is forcing more people from farmland, driving displacement, and restricting humanitarian access.
Analysis
Aid cuts under US President Donald Trump and other western countries have hit some of Nigeria’s poorest households in recent years.
Habiba, a displaced mother with a young baby in Borno States, said sometimes they do not get food “for two nights” while occasionally they get only one meal.
“And when children keep going hungry, it’s hard to be with them awake with nothing. That’s how I gave birth to this baby, in this situation of total lack,” she said.
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