United Nations World Food Programme, WFP, has said that 31 million Nigerians are facing acute hunger. This was made known by the WFP in a statement issued on Thursday, saying emergency food assistance grinds to a halt in Nigeria amid surging insecurity and record hunger. The Programme also said that it has been hit by critical funding shortfalls which come at a time of escalating violence and record levels of hunger as a result it is forced to suspend all emergency food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people in northeast Nigeria at the end of July. According to the statement, WFP’s food and nutrition stocks have been completely exhausted. The organization’s last supplies left warehouses in early July and life-saving assistance will end after the current round of distributions is completed. It also raised concerns and warned that without immediate funding, millions of vulnerable people will face impossible choices: endure increasingly severe hunger, migrate, or possibly risk exploitation by extremist groups in the region.
The WFP Country Director for Nigeria, David Stevenson, said “nearly 31 million people in Nigeria are now facing acute hunger, a record number. At the same time, WFP’s operations in northeast Nigeria will collapse without immediate, sustained funding. This is no longer just a humanitarian crisis, it’s a growing threat to regional stability, as families pushed beyond their limits are left with nowhere to turn.” WFP also said with the situation children will be among the worst affected if vital aid ends. More than 150 WFP-supported nutrition clinics in Borno and Yobe States will close, ending potentially life-saving treatment for more than 300,000 children under two and placing them at increased risk of wasting. In conflict-affected northern areas, escalating violence from extremist groups is driving mass displacement. Some 2.3 million people across the Lake Chad Basin have been forced to flee their homes, straining already limited resources and pushing communities to the brink. When emergency assistance ends, many will migrate in search of food and shelter. Others will adopt negative coping mechanisms – including potentially joining insurgent groups – to survive. Food assistance can often prevent these outcomes. It allows us to feed families, help rebuild economies and support long-term recovery”, he said.
In the first half of 2025, WFP has been able to hold hunger at bay across northern Nigeria, reaching 1.3 million people with life-saving food and nutrition assistance. Support for an additional 720,000 people was planned for the second half of the year before funding shortfalls put life-saving programmes in jeopardy. However, WFP said it has the capacity and expertise to deliver and scale-up its humanitarian response, but the critical funding gap is paralyzing operations. WFP urgently requires $130 million to prevent an imminent pipeline break and sustain food and nutrition operations through the end of 2025. “In Nigeria today, just to give you an impression, 31 million people are facing acute food insecurity and are in need of life-saving assistance. To put this in perspective, this is equivalent to the entire population of Texas (in the U.S.) going hungry.
“However, due to the severe funding cuts that the World Food Programme is facing, we have exhausted our food and nutrition resources,” she said. Ms Velden added that while WFP has been able to hold hunger at bay across northern Nigeria in the first half of 2025, funding shortfalls were jeopardising such efforts. She expressed regret that life-saving programmes could be halted by the end of July due to a lack of immediate funding. “At the beginning of August, we will have to face the heartbreaking reality of having to suspend our operations for the populations in northeast Nigeria. So our teams will have to tell the population that they no longer will receive aid, not because there is no need, but because there are no resources for that assistance. So, more than 1.3 million people, including 300,000 infants, could lose life-saving food assistance and nutritional support,” she explained.
According to her, vulnerable people could be left without food assistance as WFP’s food and nutrition stocks had been completely exhausted, with its last supplies leaving warehouses in early July. With life-saving assistance set to end after the current round of distributions is completed, Velden said millions of vulnerable people could face impossible choices. The WFP official added that the vulnerable will have to endure increasingly severe hunger, migrate, or even risk possible exploitation by extremist groups in the region. She again expressed regret that the critical funding shortfalls came at a time of escalating violence and record levels of hunger. As mass displacement strains the already limited resources and pushes communities to the brink, Velden said the lack of emergency food assistance risked increasing recruitment by the extremist groups.
“When emergency assistance ends, many will migrate in search of food and shelter. Others will adopt negative coping mechanisms, including potentially joining insurgent groups, to survive. Without immediate funds, over 150 WFP-supported nutrition clinics will close, ending potentially life-saving treatment for more than 300,000 children,” she stressed. Ms Velden commended the Nigerian government as well as the Borno state government for their support aimed at addressing the humanitarian situation in the northeast. I think the government of Nigeria, as well as the governor in Borno state, has a very clear vision of a response and a plan,” she said.
