The United Nations World Food Programme has warned that thousands of people in Nigeria’s North-East are facing the risk of catastrophic food shortages for the first time in nearly a decade, as cuts in humanitarian funding worsen hunger and malnutrition across the region.

The UN agency said on Friday that about 15,000 people in Borno State are at risk, while more than 13 million children across the North-East are projected to suffer malnutrition this year.

According to the WFP, prolonged conflict, displacement and mounting economic pressures have fuelled food insecurity for years, but recent reductions in humanitarian assistance are now pushing vulnerable communities beyond their ability to cope.

“The reduced funding we saw in 2025 has deepened hunger and malnutrition across the region,” the WFP’s Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Sarah Longford, said.

She noted that the crisis extends beyond Nigeria, adding that about 55 million people are currently facing severe food shortages across West and Central Africa, with more than three-quarters of those affected living in Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

Although the agency did not disclose specific funding figures, it said humanitarian organisations have been raising concerns since the administration of former United States President Donald Trump began reducing foreign aid under its “America First” policy, while Britain and other countries also cut aid budgets to boost defence spending.

The WFP said funding shortfalls in 2025 had already forced it to scale back nutrition programmes in Nigeria, affecting more than 300,000 children. The agency had earlier warned that nearly 35 million people could face hunger as its resources were expected to run out in December.

“In Nigeria, WFP will only be able to reach 72,000 people in February, a drastic reduction from the 1.3 million assisted during the 2025 lean season,” it said.
Elsewhere, the agency noted that insecurity in Mali has disrupted major food supply routes, leaving about 1.5 million people facing crisis levels of hunger, while more than 500,000 people in Cameroon risk being cut off from humanitarian assistance in the coming weeks.

The WFP said it urgently requires more than $453m over the next six months to sustain life-saving humanitarian operations across West and Central Africa.

It warned that without immediate resources and action, millions of the most vulnerable people in the region could face yet another dire year.

“To break the cycle of hunger for future generations, we need a paradigm shift in 2026. National governments and their partners must increase investment in preparedness, anticipatory action and resilience-building to empower communities,” Longford said.

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The project is designed to enable the Government meet the country’s growing food and nutrition needs, while building community resilience, as hunger reaches unprecedented levels in the country. It will also support ongoing longer-term efforts to improve the people’s resilience and food security, including tens of thousands displaced by the ongoing conflict in eight regions – Northern Bhar El Ghazal, Western Bahar el Ghazal, Lakes, Jonglei, Unity, Western Equatoria, Warrap and Upper Nile regions.

The grant will be implemented by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and partners are scaling up food and cash assistance to reach up to 5 million people in the worst-affected areas of South Sudan by the end of 2018. Despite the harvest in September, as many as 5.2 million people will remain in Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 3 (Crisis), not knowing where their next meal would come from between January and March 2019, with some 36,000 people forecast to be in Phase 5 (Catastrophe), experiencing famine-like conditions in parts of the country, according to the latest IPC report

“We are very grateful for the contribution from the Bank,” said Adnan Khan, WFP Country Director in South Sudan. “It will go a long way in helping us provide life-saving support at a critical period and ensure people have the means to feed themselves not only today but also in the future.” WFP activities are designed both to address immediate food needs while promoting the ability of vulnerable communities to withstand future shocks to their food security. WFP provides various kinds of assistance – food for people building and restoring community assets, life-saving emergency food, emergency school feeding and the treatment of malnutrition among children, and pregnant and nursing women.

“STRERP reflects the Bank’s commitment to support its Regional Member Countries (RMCs) in addressing the drivers of food insecurity and unstable food production systems.” said Benedict Kanu, the Bank’s Country Manager in South Sudan. “The Bank’s approach goes beyond addressing the immediate humanitarian needs through food assistance, but also seeks to build resilience of the affected communities and strengthen the capacity of government institutions to effectively plan, coordinate and implement disaster risk management and humanitarian responses. We call on all development partners to work together to address the underlying drivers of vulnerability in drought-prone areas.”

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The African Risk Capacity is a Specialised Agency of the African Union that provides African sovereigns with capacity building services for early warning, contingency planning and risk finance towards protecting the livelihoods of their vulnerable citizens against the impact of natural disasters through home-grown, innovative, cost-effective, timely and sustainable solutions.

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In this position, Mr. Moghalu will be leading efforts to ensure that the work of ARC in responding to the challenges of climate change and natural disaster risk management is strategically communicated to the Member States and the international community in a way that secures commitment and boosts resource mobilisation.

Prior to this position, Mr. Moghalu, at various times, served as the Regional Head of Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) for the Southeast and Delta states in Nigeria; as well the Head of the Corporate Communication Division at its headquarters in Abuja.

Before joining NEXIM Bank, Mr. Moghalu had more than 10 years career with various United Nations agencies, including the ILO and the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Chinedu Moghalu holds a M.Sc. degree in Communications for Development, and other degrees in Political Science, and Law from University of Nigeria, Nsukka and University of Lagos, in Nigeria.

Moghalu is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association, International Bar Association, International Public Relations Association (IPRA), and sits on the Board of the Chigari Foundation.

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Since the end of September, more than 15,000 people have moved to nearby cities and quieter areas of Sabratha city.

“With the help of our Libyan partners on the ground, WFP is delivering enough food this week to feed 1,500 people who have been severely affected by fighting,” says WFP Libya Country Director, Richard Ragan.

WFP is providing food assistance to almost 300 families, with each ration offering a family of five a month’s supply of rice, pasta, wheat flour, chickpeas, vegetable oil, sugar and tomato paste.

“Because of the conflict, many of the normal systems that people depend on to meet their daily needs have ceased to function,” says Ragan. “WFPs support gives hope to those most in need and offers life-saving food assistance during a period when help is most urgently needed.”

In 2017, WFP aims to assist 175,000 Libyans whose food insecurity means they do not know where their next meal is coming from. Priority is being given to the most vulnerable families, especially internally displaced people, returnees and refugees, as well as households headed by unemployed women.

The humanitarian situation in Libya continues to deteriorate due to ongoing conflict, political instability, and the disruption of markets and local food production, all of which affect families’ livelihoods and their ability to meet basic needs, including food.

WFP – dependent entirely on voluntary contributions from governments, companies and individuals – urgently requires US$9.2 million to continue its food assistance operations in Libya for the next six months.

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