Nigeria’s food security crisis has worsened significantly, with some residents in conflict-affected northern communities reportedly joining armed groups in search of food and income, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).
The UN agency disclosed on Thursday that hunger across northern Nigeria has reached its highest level in nearly a decade as persistent violence, widespread displacement, and dwindling humanitarian funding continue to push millions into severe food insecurity.
According to the WFP, more than 17 million Nigerians are currently experiencing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of hunger, with the situation deteriorating rapidly across the country’s northern region.
The agency noted that the humanitarian emergency has intensified as violence continues to spread beyond the northeast into the northwest, where communities are already battling attacks by armed bandit groups alongside the long-running insurgency.
The insurgency, which began in the northeast in 2009, has witnessed renewed violence since 2025, forcing thousands of families from their homes and preventing many farmers from accessing their farmlands.
WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Kinday Samba, expressed concern over the expanding scope of the crisis, stating that the continued spread of violence is displacing communities, disrupting farming activities, and making humanitarian operations increasingly difficult.
He explained that insecurity has spread across a much wider area, forcing people away from their sources of livelihood while limiting humanitarian access to vulnerable populations.
The agency also attributed the worsening humanitarian situation to significant reductions in international aid, particularly following funding cuts by the United States and several Western donor countries, which have affected assistance programmes for some of Nigeria’s poorest households.
In addition, recent economic reforms have contributed to rising living costs. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently reported an increase in poverty levels under the current administration, noting that while the reforms are widely supported by economists, they have also led to higher prices for essential goods and services.
As insecurity expands across northern Nigeria, humanitarian workers are facing greater challenges in reaching vulnerable communities.
The WFP disclosed that the number of locations considered inaccessible to its frontline staff has doubled, with an additional 15 areas now classified as partially inaccessible due to security concerns.
The agency noted that government presence remains limited in many rural communities outside major urban centres, leaving residents vulnerable to repeated attacks by armed groups.
Describing the situation as alarming, the WFP said Nigeria’s food security crisis is deteriorating much faster than earlier projections.
It stressed that conflict has driven hunger in several northern states, particularly in the northeast, to levels not recorded in almost ten years.
In Borno State, the epicentre of the insurgency, more than three million people are currently experiencing acute food insecurity, including about 10,000 individuals facing catastrophic hunger conditions.
Although the WFP provided food and nutrition assistance to approximately 1.3 million people during the peak of the 2025 lean season, severe funding shortages have drastically reduced its capacity this year.
The agency projected that it would reach only slightly more than half of that number despite the growing humanitarian needs.
The number of food-insecure people across northeastern Nigeria has now risen to 6.2 million. However, due to limited resources, the WFP said it can provide assistance to only about 740,000 people, leaving approximately 5.5 million people, many of them children, without life-saving food support.
The organisation warned that the suspension and reduction of food assistance are forcing desperate families to adopt dangerous survival strategies.
According to the agency, communities have reported cases of individuals joining armed groups in exchange for food or income, highlighting the growing security risks associated with deepening hunger and the absence of sustainable livelihood opportunities.
The WFP called for urgent international support and increased humanitarian funding to prevent the crisis from worsening and to protect vulnerable populations across northern Nigeria.
Hunger Forces Some Northern Nigerians to Join Armed Groups as Food Crisis Reaches Decade High – WFP
