United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that growing instability across Northern Nigeria, including the surge in attacks, could push nearly 35 million people into severe food insecurity during the 2026 lean season, which is the highest figure ever recorded in the country.
The warning followed the release of the latest Cadre Harmonisé, a regional food security analysis that classifies the severity of hunger.
UN highlighted attacks by insurgent groups in Nigeria, including Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate; Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) and its expansion across the Sahel, which intensified throughout 2025.
WFP Country Director and Representative in Nigeria, David Stevenson, said Northern Nigeria is experiencing the most severe hunger crisis in a decade, with rural farming communities the hardest hit.
He stated that nearly six million people in the north were projected to face crisis levels of hunger or worse during the 2026 lean season, from June to August, in the conflict zones of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
This, he said, includes some 15,000 people in Borno who are expected to confront catastrophic hunger, such as Phase 5, famine-like conditions.
Stevenson also noted that children were at the greatest risk across Borno, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, where malnutrition rates are highest.
“Communities are deteriorating under severe pressure from repeated attacks and economic stress. If we can’t keep families fed and food insecurity at bay, growing desperation could fuel increased instability with insurgent groups exploiting hunger to expand their influence, creating a security threat that extends across West Africa and beyond,” he said.
The dire situation, according to Stevenson, has been compounded by funding shortfalls that diminish the WFP’s ability to provide life-saving assistance.
He noted that in the North-East, where nearly one million people depend on WFP’s food and nutrition assistance, WFP was forced to scale down nutrition programmes in July, affecting more than 300,000 children.
He added that in areas where clinics closed, malnutrition from “serious” to “critical” in the third quarter of the year.
Despite soaring needs, Stevenson said WFP would run out of resources for emergency food and nutrition assistance in December.
He said without urgent funding, millions would be left without vital support in 2026, risking more instability and deepening a crisis that the world cannot afford to ignore.
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