The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), on Thursday, announced that it was forced to suspend all emergency food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people in the North-east of Nigeria due to critical funding gaps.
The action, which takes effect at the end of the month, comes at a time of escalating violence and record levels of hunger in the region.
In a statement, the programmes’ Country Director for Nigeria, David Stevenson, said WFP urgently needed $130 million to prevent an imminent pipeline break and sustain food and nutrition operations through the end of 2025.
Stevenson said, “Nearly 31 million people in Nigeria are now facing acute hunger, a record number. At the same time, WFP’s operations in North-east 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.”
The statement added that WFP’s food and nutrition stocks had been completely exhausted, saying the organisation’s last supplies left warehouses in early July and life-saving assistance will end after the current round of distributions.
Stevenson pointed out 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.
“Children will be among the worst affected if vital aid ends,” the statement stressed.
It added that 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.
WEP further stated that in conflict-affected northern areas, escalating violence from extremist groups was driving mass displacement. It said some 2.3 million people across the Lake Chad Basin had been forced to flee their homes, straining already limited resources and pushing communities to the brink.
Stevenson said, “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.”
In the first half of 2025, WFP was able to hold hunger at bay across northern Nigeria, reaching 1.3 million people with life-saving food and nutrition assistance, he said.
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.
WFP had the capacity and expertise to deliver and scale up its humanitarian response, but the critical funding gap was paralysing operations, the organisation said.
James Emejo
Follow us on:
