The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has announced a drastic scale-down of its hunger intervention in Nigeria as funding constraints tighten, raising fresh concerns over worsening food insecurity across West and Central Africa.
The agency disclosed that it will only be able to reach about 72,000 people in Nigeria in February, a sharp decline from the 1.3 million people assisted during the 2025 lean season. The reduction comes amid projections that hunger across the region will reach alarming levels in 2026 without urgent financial support.
According to the latest Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis, about 55 million people in West and Central Africa are expected to face crisis levels of hunger or worse between June and August 2026, while more than 13 million children are projected to suffer from malnutrition during the year.
WFP warned that the region is heading for another severe humanitarian year, with more than three million people expected to fall into emergency levels of food insecurity this year, more than double the figure recorded in 2020. Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger account for 77 per cent of the region’s food-insecure population, including an estimated 15,000 people in Nigeria’s Borno State at risk of catastrophic hunger for the first time in nearly a decade.
Deputy Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Sarah Longford, said reduced funding in 2025 has already deepened hunger and malnutrition across the region, stressing that humanitarian assistance remains a stabilising force in fragile environments.
She warned that as needs continue to outpace available resources, the risks of desperation, displacement and conflict will intensify, particularly among young people.
The agency attributed the worsening situation to a combination of conflict, displacement and economic shocks, now compounded by cuts in humanitarian assistance that have pushed vulnerable communities beyond their coping capacity. In Mali, WFP noted that areas receiving reduced food rations recorded a 64 per cent surge in acute hunger since 2023, while communities that received full support saw hunger levels fall significantly, despite ongoing insecurity disrupting food supply routes to major cities.
In Nigeria, funding gaps last year forced WFP to scale down nutrition programmes, affecting more than 300,000 children. As a result, malnutrition levels in several northern states have deteriorated from “serious” to “critical,” the agency said. In Cameroon, WFP warned that more than half a million vulnerable people could be cut off from life-saving assistance in the coming weeks if urgent funding is not secured.
Despite the grim outlook, WFP noted that adequate funding has consistently delivered measurable gains in food security and resilience. The agency cited land restoration efforts in the Sahel, which generate up to 30 dollars for every dollar invested, and the rehabilitation of about 300,000 hectares of farmland across five countries since 2018, supporting more than four million people.
WFP said its programmes across the region have strengthened school feeding, nutrition services, infrastructure development and seasonal safety nets, helping communities withstand climate shocks, insecurity and economic stress while reducing long-term dependence on aid.
Calling for a shift in approach, Longford urged governments and partners to increase investment in preparedness, anticipatory action and resilience-building to break the cycle of hunger. She added that the agency urgently requires more than 453 million dollars over the next six months to sustain life-saving humanitarian operations across West and Central Africa.
