Aid organisations warn of growing hunger crisis in Nigeria following US funding cuts

Aid organisations, including the World Food Programme (WFP), are raising the alarm about an unprecedented hunger crisis in Nigeria. The situation is particularly dire in the north of the country, where millions of people are fleeing terrorist groups. 600.000 children are at risk of dying.

While demand for emergency aid is increasing in the West African country, emergency aid has actually declined in recent years. Last summer, the WFP closed more than 150 clinics where children and babies were being treated for malnutrition.

"There are millions of people who need our help," says Ancel Kats of the WFP in Nigeria. "But the funding isn't forthcoming."

Until the beginning of this year, the United States provided more than half of Nigeria's aid. But a few weeks after his inauguration, President Donald Trump announced the dismantling of USAID, causing a sudden and substantial reduction in foreign aid. More Western countries are cutting development budgets.

While aid organisations were able to absorb the brunt of the impact in the first half of the year, the consequences of the loss of US support are now becoming increasingly clear. WFP is scaling back aid programs across Africa. In Nigeria, the UN agency is short more than $115 million to continue its work.

In a refugee camp in Bama, Borno State, food distribution is at risk. The number of people receiving food aid has already been reduced. Only the most vulnerable are being helped.

“They all depend on WFP to distribute this food for them to eat", says Soumbami Tukunabo, an aid worker for the Italian organisation InterSOS. " It would be very bad to tell them that due to global funding cuts there is going to be a reduction in caseload.”

Food distribution isn’t the only program affected. Since the end of USAID, the country has also lost $600 million in health funding, about a fifth of its total budget.