…Warns Starvation Fueling Bandit Recruitment
… WFP Warns Millions Risk Losing Lifesaving Aid
Daud Olatunji
The United Nations World Food Programme has raised fresh alarm over Nigeria’s worsening food crisis, revealing that more than 17 million people across nine conflict-affected northern states are battling severe hunger, with growing starvation now pushing some desperate residents into joining armed groups in exchange for food or income.
The UN agency appealed for $89 million to sustain emergency food and nutrition assistance, as well as critical humanitarian logistics, over the next six months, warning that escalating insecurity, shrinking donor funding and restricted humanitarian access are driving millions deeper into food insecurity.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the WFP said the latest Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis showed that over 17 million Nigerians were experiencing crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity—an increase of nearly two million people from the previous assessment.
It warned that without urgent intervention, the humanitarian emergency could further worsen insecurity across northern Nigeria.
The agency disclosed that communities in parts of the North had reported cases of people joining bandit and other armed groups simply to survive.
“Communities have reported cases of individuals joining armed groups in search of food or income, underlining the risks created when hunger deepens and people run out of options,” the WFP stated.
The WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Kinday Samba, said the crisis was no longer confined to the North-East, warning that violence was spreading into wider parts of northern Nigeria.
“What concerns us most is how this crisis is expanding. For years, insurgent attacks and violence were largely concentrated in parts of northeast Nigeria.
“Today, they are spreading across a much wider area and forcing people from farmland, driving displacement and restricting humanitarian access, meaning hunger is quick to follow,” Samba said.
According to the agency, Borno State remains the worst-hit, with more than three million residents suffering acute food insecurity following renewed insurgent attacks and reductions in humanitarian assistance.
It said over 750,000 people in the state were facing severe hunger, while more than 10,000 people had slipped into catastrophic hunger—the highest and most life-threatening level of food insecurity.
The WFP noted that humanitarian operations had become increasingly difficult, with the number of locations inaccessible to aid workers doubling, while another 15 areas had become only partially accessible due to worsening insecurity.
It added that attacks on major transport routes and the proliferation of illegal checkpoints had disrupted the movement of relief supplies, forcing aid agencies to rely on costly air transport to reach some isolated communities.
The organisation also blamed dwindling international donor support, including aid cuts by the United States and other Western countries, for severely limiting humanitarian operations across northern Nigeria.
According to the agency, although about 6.2 million people are currently food insecure across the three North-East states, available resources can only support about 740,000 people, leaving approximately 5.5 million people, many of them children, without life-saving food and nutrition assistance.
It said this marked a sharp decline from the 1.3 million people it assisted during the peak of the 2025 lean season.
The WFP warned that reduced humanitarian assistance was exposing vulnerable households to greater risks, including exploitation, displacement and gender-based violence, especially among women and children.
It also expressed concern that the suspension of food assistance in some internally displaced persons’ camps due to funding shortages had worsened protection risks.
“When people lose access to food, the risks of displacement, exploitation and instability increase. Yet resources are at their lowest at the time they are needed most,” Samba added.
Nigeria has battled a jihadist insurgency in the North-East since 2009, while armed bandit groups continue to terrorise communities across the North-West, displacing thousands of residents and disrupting farming activities, further deepening the country’s food insecurity crisis.
The WFP urged the international community to urgently mobilise the requested $89 million to prevent a further deterioration of the humanitarian and security situation in northern Nigeria.
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