Nearly 35 million Nigerians could face hunger this year, including about 3 million children at risk of severe malnutrition, the United Nations warned on Thursday, citing a sharp collapse in global humanitarian funding.
The warning was delivered at the launch of Nigeria’s 2026 humanitarian response plan in Abuja by the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mohamed Malick Fall, according to Reuters.
Fall said Nigeria’s humanitarian needs have continued to expand while international support has declined, making the long-standing, foreign-led aid system unsustainable.
He described the situation in the conflict-affected northeast as especially severe, noting that civilians in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states are facing worsening insecurity and violence.
According to him, a rise in suicide bombings and widespread attacks led to more than 4,000 deaths in the first eight months of 2025 alone, a figure equal to the total number of people killed throughout all of 2023.
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Because of limited resources, the UN now plans to mobilise only $516 million this year to deliver lifesaving assistance to about 2.5 million people.
This is a significant reduction from the 3.6 million people reached in 2025, which itself was roughly half the number supported the year before.
“These are not statistics. These numbers represent lives, futures and Nigerians,” Fall said.
He added that the funding shortfall has forced the UN to prioritise only “the most lifesaving” interventions.
Similar constraints affected humanitarian operations last year, when the World Food Programme warned that millions of Nigerians could go hungry after its funds ran out in December, leading it to cut assistance to more than 300,000 children.
Despite the challenges, Fall noted that Nigeria has begun to show stronger national ownership of its humanitarian response.
He pointed to recent efforts such as the use of local funding for lean-season food support and early-warning actions to reduce the impact of flooding.
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Image Credit: Arab News
