LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA)- The United Nations (UN) has warned that around 55 million people in violence-affected west and central Africa will face acute food insecurity in the coming months, with some communities in northern Nigeria teetering on the brink of famine.
According to the World Food Programme (WFP), persistent violence across the region has triggered a hunger crisis that is being aggravated by cuts to humanitarian aid. WFP officials said that declining funding has forced significant reductions in food assistance, leaving millions at risk.
Speaking in Geneva, WFP’s Director of food security and nutrition analysis, Jean-Martin Bauer, said, “In west and central Africa, a staggering 55 million people will be facing acute food insecurity in the upcoming lean season between June and August 2026.”
These individuals fall within the three most severe levels of hunger, crisis, emergency, and catastrophe used to assess food insecurity. The number of people in emergency conditions has doubled since 2020, reaching three million, while in Borno state, northeastern Nigeria, about 15,000 people are now in the catastrophe phase, marking the first time this level has been recorded in a decade.
“This is a group that’s one step away from famine. That does mean that people are dying… people are starving,” Bauer said from WFP headquarters in Rome.
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Borno state remains the epicentre of a jihadist insurgency that began in 2009, which has claimed over 40,000 lives, displaced around two million people, and spilled into neighbouring countries. Despite a relatively favourable rainy season last year, Bauer emphasized that the hunger crisis is driven by violence, not climate conditions, and compounded by dwindling aid from international donors.
“The vulnerabilities we’re seeing in west and central Africa right now are really due to violence. They’re also due to the fact there have been large funding cuts to the central systems that support the population,” he said.
Last year, WFP had to halt food assistance to approximately 300,000 children in Nigeria because of funding shortages, and similar cuts could affect 500,000 people in Cameroon. In Nigeria, WFP plans to assist 72,000 people next month, down sharply from a monthly reach of 1.3 million in 2025.
“The funding cuts are exacerbating the problem. The situation has gotten so bad that in some places we can talk about a humanitarian vacuum, as humanitarian agencies have withdrawn from the front line,” Bauer said.
Over the next six months, WFP requires $453 million to sustain its operations in the region. Bauer warned that without this support, food consumption indicators could decline rapidly at the household level, further endangering vulnerable populations.
