UN says hunger in conflict-hit northern Nigeria is reaching crisis levels

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.

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.

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.

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.

The WFP said that, at the same time, the number of locations inaccessible to its frontline staff has doubled while cargo movements along major routes are increasingly disrupted by attacks and illegal checkpoints.

It said the suspension of food assistance is driving people towards desperate coping strategies, including cases of individuals joining armed groups in search of food or income.

In some camps, the lack of food aid due to funding shortfalls has triggered an alarming escalation in exploitation and gender-based harm that is particularly impacting women and children.

The WFP said it needs $89 million over the next six months to continue food and nutrition assistance across northern Nigeria before hunger deepens further.