The World Food Programme’s Country Director in Nigeria, David Stevenson, has said the key to solving Nigeria’s deepening hunger crisis is not just more aid, but lasting peace.
Speaking on the country’s prolonged food insecurity, during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, he pointed to conflict — particularly in the northeast — as the primary driver behind the alarming statistics.
Despite billions in aid and nearly a decade of intervention, Nigeria continues to top global charts for acute food insecurity — a crisis the World Food Programme (WFP) says is rooted in persistent conflict, not a lack of resources.
Stevenson said the issue goes beyond aid fatigue or poor coordination. “The solution is peace and production,” he stressed.
Nigeria, alongside Myanmar and Sudan, is ranked in the 2024 Global Food Crisis Report as experiencing the most severe levels of food insecurity. According to Stevenson, the country’s troubles date back to 2010, when security began to sharply decline — especially in the northeast, once the nation’s agricultural heartland.
“In 2010, Madaguri flour mills used to produce 400 tons a day of wheat flour. I was there some weeks ago, and now they’re producing nothing in terms of wheat flour, some maize.
“Since January of this year, there’ve been about 450 attacks in the northeast. Just last week, we had 10,000 civilians in Marte walk to Dikwa because of security concerns, being attacked in their home. We had over 40 farmers killed simply because they returned to farming in the northeast. The effects of insecurity are real, and that used to be the breadbasket of the region, the breadbasket of Nigeria, but also feeding parts of West Africa, the Sahelian West Africa.”
WFP, which was invited into Nigeria in 2015 to address the worsening hunger and malnutrition, has since worked extensively with government and local partners to support affected communities. But without peace, Stevenson warns, real progress remains out of reach.
Melissa Enoch
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