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 contribution, provided to the World Food Programme, will support immediate food and cash-based transfer to flood-affected population and early recovery efforts, while the contribution to UNICEF will support child protection and menstrual hygiene measures in camps and communities.

More than 860,000 people have been impacted in 15 affected districts since 9 March, according to the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA). In support of the Government-led response, WFP is targeting 414,000 people with food and cash assistance. Japan’s contribution is following its immediate response through providing non-food items (NFIs) such as tents and blankets that arrived on March 22.

“I am confident that this contribution will be effectively managed by WFP and UNICEF to facilitate early recovery of the affected population. Japan is also a disaster prone country hence we understand how people, especially vulnerable groups including women, girls and children, suffer from disasters when they are not prepared,” said the Japanese Ambassador to Malawi, Her Excellency Kae Yanagisawa.

Both UNICEF and WFP expressed their gratitude to the Government of Japan for the USD 1.25 million assistance. “We hope to further strengthen our partnership with Japan and make joint efforts towards achieving zero hunger,” said WFP Malawi Country Director Benoit Thiry. “WFP is shifting to more sustainable solutions, coupling its emergency response for flood-affected population with early recovery programmes that encourage self-reliance,” said Thiry.

The USD 1 million grant to WFP will contribute to implement the 2019 Floods Response Plan through the provision of cash-based transfers and early recovery efforts in the most affected district of Nsanje. 21,000 targeted population will receive life-saving support while helping the most vulnerable recover from the shock and rebuild their livelihoods.  From 2014 to 2019, the Government of Japan has contributed US$ 16 million to WFP humanitarian and development programmes in Malawi.

The support from Japan also includes $250,000 towards UNICEF’s programme. UNICEF anticipates that this programme will reach at least 14,000 children through child friendly spaces in evacuation camps. The funding will include support for training of service providers and supplies for the spaces. It will also provide menstrual hygiene management supplies for 6,000 adolescent girls and women. These measures are necessary to address heightened vulnerabilities for displaced children in the evacuation sites and as they return to their communities.

“During this emergency, UNICEF’s priority is to help children and families who have lost their homes and are living in evacuation centres or with other families in their communities,” UNICEF Malawi Representative Johannes Wedenig said. “In these situations, children and especially adolescent girls face increased risks, including risk of trafficking and gender-based violence. The new funding from Japan will allow us to scale up our response to protect children and adolescent girls.”

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According to the report, nearly two-thirds of those facing acute hunger come from just eight countries: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. And although there were 11 million fewer people believed to be in food crisis in 2018 compared with 2017, in 17 countries, acute hunger either remained the same or increased, the report indicates.

Moreover, an additional 143 million people in another 42 countries are just one step away from acute hunger. Climate and natural disasters pushed another 29 million people into acute food insecurity in 2018, says the report, and that number excludes 13 countries – including North Korea and Venezuela – because of data gaps.

“It is clear from the Global Report that despite a slight drop in 2018 in the number of people experiencing acute food insecurity – the most extreme form of hunger – the figure is still far too high”, said FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, speaking at a two-day conference to discuss the findings, in Brussels.

“We must act at scale across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus to build the resilience of affected and vulnerable populations. To save lives, we also have to save livelihoods”, he added.

While critical to saving lives and alleviating human suffering, humanitarian assistance does not address the root causes of food crises, WFP Executive Director, David Beasley noted in Brussels, highlighted the importance of “attacking the root causes of hunger: conflict, instability, the impact of climate shocks”.

“Boys and girls need to be well-nourished and educated, women need to be truly empowered, rural infrastructure must be strengthened in order to meet that Zero Hunger goal.

Programmes that make a community resilient and more stable will also reduce the number of hungry people. And one thing we need world leaders to do as well: step up to the plate and help solve these conflicts, right now”, Mr. Beasley added.

From 2014 to 2020, the EU will have provided nearly €9 billion for initiatives on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture in over 60 countries.

“Food crises continue to be a global challenge, which requires our joint efforts. The EU continues to step up its humanitarian efforts. Over the last three years, the EU allocated the biggest humanitarian food and nutrition assistance budget ever, with nearly €2 billion overall. Food crises are becoming more acute and complex and we need innovative ways to tackle and prevent them from happening”, said Christos Stylianides, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.

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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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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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