Maiduguri/Abuja, November 26, 2025 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has issued its starkest warning yet for Nigeria, declaring that a record 35 million people—roughly one in every six Nigerians—are now facing acute food insecurity and “famine-like conditions” through the 2025 lean season. The agency described the figure as the highest ever recorded in the country’s history, with the crisis concentrated in the northeast and northwest regions where insurgent violence has reached new peaks this year.
WFP Country Director David Stevenson stated that the dramatic escalation is being driven by a deadly combination of intensified attacks by armed groups, including the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM), severe flooding, skyrocketing food prices, and sharp reductions in humanitarian funding. “We are seeing famine-like conditions in parts of the northeast,” Stevenson said during a press briefing in Maiduguri, adding that without immediate and massive intervention, the situation will deteriorate further into 2026.
The crisis has already pushed malnutrition rates in the northeast to “critical” levels. WFP confirmed that, due to funding shortfalls, it was forced to scale back life-saving nutrition programs earlier this year, directly affecting more than 300,000 children under five who were receiving treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Supplementary feeding programs for pregnant and breastfeeding women have also been reduced in several local government areas of Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states.
In Borno and Yobe, repeated insurgent strikes on farming communities and military escorts have prevented farmers from accessing their fields for a second consecutive planting season. Recent attacks on humanitarian convoys and the destruction of irrigation infrastructure have compounded the impact of widespread flooding that submerged thousands of hectares of farmland in September and October 2025. The floods displaced tens of thousands of households and destroyed stored grain reserves, leaving many communities entirely dependent on dwindling aid supplies.
Eyewitness accounts from Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, paint a grim picture on the ground. On Tuesday, hundreds of women queued for hours under the sun at distribution points in the Bakassi and Farm Centre IDP camps, hoping to receive sacks of rice provided by the state government and local philanthropists. Many left empty-handed as supplies ran out before the lines ended. “We have not eaten properly for three days,” said Amina Modu, a mother of four displaced from Guzamala Local Government Area. “The children cry at night from hunger.”
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that more than 2.2 million people remain internally displaced in the northeast alone, with an additional surge of displacement recorded in the last quarter of 2025 following intensified ISWAP and JNIM operations in northern Borno, southern Yobe, and parts of Adamawa.
Humanitarian officials have repeatedly highlighted that donor fatigue and competing global crises have led to a severe drop in funding for Nigeria’s response plan. The 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan, which required US$1.08 billion, is currently less than 40 percent funded, forcing agencies to make painful cuts to food rations and nutrition support at the exact moment needs are skyrocketing.
WFP has appealed for urgent contributions to restore full rations and expand nutrition interventions before the situation spirals further. “Every day we delay, more children slide into severe malnutrition, and the cost of saving them rises exponentially,” Stevenson warned.
As the lean season approaches and insurgent attacks show no sign of abating, aid workers and local authorities fear that the record 35 million people in acute hunger today could be only the beginning of an even more catastrophic crisis in the months ahead.
Clarion Newschannel continues to monitor developments in Nigeria’s worsening food and nutrition emergency.
Hunger Crisis Grips Northern Nigeria as Insurgent Attacks and Aid Cuts Push 35 Million to the Brink
