The UN Calls for Urgent Attention to Hunger in Northern Nigeria

The UN World Food Program (WFP) warns that millions of Nigerians in the north may be left without assistance when its resources run out in 2026.

As it approaches a dangerous limit in food levels, and has imminently shut down nutrition clinics, it said at least 300,000 children are left at risk of wasting.

The WFP programmes have been mitigated by the decision under President Donald Trump to cut USAID funding.

More so, worsening militant violence across northern Nigeria is creating an unprecedented hunger crisis expected to peak in 2026. The agency projects that 35 million northerners, more than in any other African country, could face severe hunger next year.

The funding cut forced the WFP to scale back food aid across West and Central Africa. With resources set to run out by December, the WFP warns that increasing instability could deepen the humanitarian disaster.

Food Crisis in Northern Nigeria in 2026

Borno and Yobe states are the home to some of the highest levels of hunger and malnutrition.

Borno State alone, the center of Nigeria’s conflict, is expected to see around 15,000 people suffering catastrophic, famine-like conditions.

While armed attacks have made farming dangerous, with rural communities hardest hit, the UN said that many farmers also suffer from flooding. During the 2025 lean season in Nigeria, over 30 million people faced crisis or worse levels, IPC Phase 3 and above.

Nearly 6 million people in the northeast, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, the epicentre of the crisis, are facing severe food insecurity in 2026.

Frequent kidnappings highlight the insecurity, such as the recent abductions of over 300 students and teachers in Niger State and 25 schoolchildren in Kebbi.

Nigeria was listed as one of the countries and territories facing or at risk of facing catastrophic hunger alongside countries in conflict like Haiti, Mali, Palestine, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Somalia and Syria.

Its operational requirements for Nigeria is projected at 309.8m for 2026. However, WFP said it needs US$80.4 million for operations until March 2026.