A new warning from the United Nations World Food Programme has revealed a grim picture for Northern Nigeria, where escalating violence and instability may push nearly 35 million people into severe food insecurity during the 2026 lean season. It would be the highest number of hungry Nigerians ever recorded.

The alert follows the latest Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis, which shows how insurgent attacks, displacement, disrupted farming cycles, and collapsing rural economies are deepening hunger across the north. The report points to the intensification of assaults by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, an al-Qaeda affiliate, and the Islamic State in West Africa Province, whose presence expanded across the Sahel through 2025.

According to WFP Country Director David Stevenson, Northern Nigeria is now experiencing its most severe hunger crisis in 10 years. He explained that rural farming communities have suffered the worst impact, as insecurity forces people from their farmlands, cuts off supply routes, and limits humanitarian access.

Stevenson stated that almost six million people in Borno State, Adamawa State and Yobe State alone are projected to face crisis or emergency levels of hunger during the 2026 lean season, which spans June to August. Within that group, an estimated 15 thousand people in Borno State could slip into catastrophic conditions, classified as Phase Five, where food shortages are life-threatening.

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Children remain the most vulnerable. Stevenson noted that widespread malnutrition is particularly acute across Borno State, Yobe State, Sokoto State and Zamfara State, where health systems are already overstretched. He warned that communities are deteriorating under “severe pressure from repeated attacks and economic stress,” and that growing desperation could make them more susceptible to exploitation by armed groups if food insecurity is not addressed.

The crisis has been worsened by widening funding gaps. In the North-East alone, nearly one million people depend on WFP food and nutrition assistance. However, budget shortfalls forced the agency to scale down its nutrition programmes in July, cutting support for more than three hundred thousand children. In areas where clinics closed, WFP recorded a shift from “serious” to “critical” malnutrition levels in the third quarter of the year.

Stevenson warned that the agency’s resources for emergency food and nutrition support will be exhausted by December unless new funding arrives. He emphasised that without urgent intervention, millions could be left without assistance in 2026, deepening an already volatile humanitarian situation and placing additional strain on communities living under constant threat.

The UN’s latest assessment underscores a stark reality: without security improvements, sustained humanitarian support and broader investment in rural livelihoods, the hunger crisis in Northern Nigeria may escalate beyond anything the country has previously faced.

Meiza Nigeria