An alarming hunger emergency is sweeping through Nigeria, where nearly 31 million people now face acute food insecurity, a crisis the United Nations is calling “unprecedented.” At the heart of the storm is a devastating mix of growing needs and evaporating aid.
“This is equivalent to the entire population of Texas going hungry,” said Margot van der Velden, the World Food Program’s (WFP) regional director, during a press conference from Niger.
But while the demand for assistance surges, aid supplies are shrinking. Starting in August, the WFP will be forced to make painful decisions due to severe funding shortfalls. Van der Velden warned, “We will face the heartbreaking reality of having to suspend humanitarian aid for the populations in areas devastated by conflict.”
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As a result, more than 1.3 million Nigerians are set to lose access to essential food and nutrition support. The consequences are grave: 150 nutrition clinics in Borno State, an epicenter of conflict, may be shut down, putting 300,000 children at risk of severe malnutrition. Furthermore, 700,000 displaced individuals could be left without the most basic means of survival.
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For years, international support, led by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), was the backbone of aid efforts in Nigeria’s conflict-ridden northeast, providing food, shelter, and healthcare. But that support has dramatically declined. Under the Trump administration, USAID has seen drastic cuts as part of a broader rollback on foreign aid, with the agency accused of waste and bias. Other Western donors followed suit, slashing their commitments to humanitarian causes.
WFP is now urgently seeking $130 million to maintain its Nigeria operations. Yet so far, only 21% of that appeal has been met.
“This crisis is not limited to Nigeria,” van der Velden cautioned. “Across west and central Africa, we are seeing the same pattern: rising needs, shrinking resources and growing risks.”
In these fragile states, emergency food aid has plummeted. WFP’s reach has been slashed by 60%, now assisting only 5 million people across the region. In Mali and Niger, emergency support has been cut by more than 80%.
Funding gaps remain staggering elsewhere: Cameroon’s appeal for $65.1 million is only 19% filled; Mauritania’s $35.8 million request is just 39% funded; the Central African Republic has seen 49% of its $29.7 million need met; Mali’s $33.2 million appeal is 57% covered; and Niger has received 74% of its $21.4 million requirement.
The root causes of this crisis, WFP says, are complex, a volatile mix of depleted food stocks, conflict, inflation, a weakening currency, soaring food prices, and massive funding withdrawals.
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Without urgent intervention, van der Velden warned, the fallout could extend beyond hunger.
“When there is no food aid,” she said in AP report, “hunger deepens and tensions rise. Communities fracture and the risk of instability increases, making it more difficult to maintain peace and resilience in the region.”
