17 Million Nigerians Stricken by Severe Hunger: UN Appeals for $89 Million to Alleviate Crisis BODY: Lagos, Nigeria – An escalating food insecurity crisis has enveloped northern Nigeria, with over 17 million people facing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of hunger, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
The situation, described as the worst in nearly a decade, has been intensified by conflict in nine northern states, pushing the region towards a humanitarian disaster.
The WFP has called for an emergency injection of $89 million to address the urgent needs in the region, highlighting the funding gap as a critical barrier to providing life-saving food assistance.
The recent Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis underscores the rapid deterioration of the food security situation, which is now far worse than the previous projections.
The crisis is most acute in Borno State, where renewed insurgent attacks and reduced humanitarian assistance have left more than three million people acutely food insecure. Over 750,000 are experiencing severe hunger, and more than 10,000 have reached the catastrophic level of food insecurity, the highest such classification. Kinday Samba, the WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa, expressed concerns over the crisis’s expansion beyond traditional insurgency hotspots in the northeast, noting the spread of conflict is driving hunger across a wider area, causing displacement and restricting humanitarian access.
Amidst shrinking food assistance and severe funding shortages, the WFP is facing challenges in reaching vulnerable communities.
The number of inaccessible locations has doubled, with attacks and illegal checkpoints along transport corridors disrupting the flow of relief supplies.
The crisis is also compounded by rising climate shocks, high transportation costs, and elevated food prices, which have rendered basic staples unaffordable for millions of households. Food inflation, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, remained above 16% in May 2026, further straining household purchasing power.
The WFP warned that without additional funding, it may be forced to scale back operations, increasing the risk of deeper hunger, fresh displacement, and greater instability across northern Nigeria.
The situation calls for immediate action from the international community to respond to the urgent appeal and prevent the crisis from worsening.
*Additional reporting by ImNews | Sources consulted: 5*
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This original article was produced by the ImNews editorial team
Source: Africa.businessinsider
Source: Ayodeji Adegboyega
