A deepening hunger crisis in northeastern Nigeria and across West and Central Africa is approaching a breaking point, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned, as conflict, mass displacement and a collapse in humanitarian funding push millions towards catastrophic food insecurity.
Joint assessments based on the Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis show that about 55 million people across the region are now facing acute hunger. Nigeria accounts for the largest share, with nearly 35 million people projected to experience severe food insecurity in 2026.
The most alarming finding is in Nigeria’s Borno State, where around 15,000 people have entered IPC Phase 5 — “famine-like” conditions — marking the first time in more than a decade that catastrophic hunger levels have been recorded in northeastern Nigeria.
The assessment also projects that 13 million children across West and Central Africa will suffer acute malnutrition this year, while about 3 million people are already in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency), double the number recorded in 2020.
Funding Collapse Forces Aid Retreat
WFP officials said humanitarian operations are being scaled back just as needs peak, following a sharp drop in global humanitarian financing.
In Nigeria alone, nutrition assistance for about 300,000 children was halted last year. WFP said it expects to reach only around 72,000 people in February 2026, down from an average of 1.3 million beneficiaries per month in 2025.
“This is a perfect storm of rising needs and shrinking resources,” WFP said in its latest operational update.
To avert a broader breakdown in food assistance across the region, the agency has appealed for $453 million to sustain life-saving operations during the first half of 2026.
Conflict Driving Hunger
In Nigeria’s northeastern BAY states Borno, Adamawa and Yobe a 15 year insurgency continues to prevent farmers from accessing land and markets, WFP said.
Armed groups are increasingly exploiting hunger to expand their influence, deepening instability and posing wider risks to security across the Sahel.
Speaking on Jan. 16, WFP Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Jean-Martin Bauer said parts of Borno were “one step away from famine,” citing mortality rates that already exceed normal emergency thresholds.
Regional Hotspots Multiply
Beyond Nigeria, humanitarian agencies flagged worsening conditions across the region.
Mali has about 1.5 million people facing crisis-level hunger, Cameroon has some 500,000 people at risk of being cut off from aid access, and Chad is rapidly depleting its emergency food reserves, according to UN data.
Call for Structural Change
The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall, said emergency aid alone would not resolve the crisis.
“Without a paradigm shift — including stronger national investment in resilience and the protection of farming communities — the cycle of hunger will remain unbreakable,” he said.
A Race Against Time
Humanitarian agencies warned that the next six months will be decisive.
Without urgent funding and improved security access, food systems across West and Central Africa risk further collapse, potentially pushing millions more into catastrophic hunger.
For WFP officials, the situation in northeastern Nigeria is no longer a warning sign. “It is already a reality,” the agency said.
