Nigeria: Conflict, Funding Cuts Push Northern Nigeria Hunger Crisis to Worst Level in Nearly a Decade, WFP Warns

Escalating conflict, reduced humanitarian funding, and worsening access constraints have pushed northern Nigeria into its most severe hunger crisis in nearly a decade, the UN World Food Programme warned. WFP said more than 17 million people across nine conflict-affected northern states are facing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, an increase of nearly two million compared with the previous assessment. The agency highlighted Borno State as the worst-affected area, where renewed insurgent attacks and the suspension of food assistance in some places have left more than three million people acutely food insecure. Of that total, over 750,000 are experiencing severe hunger and more than 10,000 are in catastrophic hunger, a level often associated with famine-like conditions. WFP attributed deterioration to spreading violence that is increasingly restricting humanitarian access, alongside funding shortages: it estimates it can assist about 740,000 people despite 6.2 million food-insecure people across the three worst-affected North-East states.