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UN Scales Back Nigeria Relief Plan as WFP Narrows Northeast Food Aid to 72,000 in February

Nearly 35 million people are projected to face hunger this year, with depleted budgets and insecurity overwhelming relief efforts.

FILE - People wait to receive food donations from the United Nations World Food Program in Damasak, northeastern Nigeria, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Chinedu Asadu, File)
Yaanama Abba, a 45-year-old mother of six children, receives pinto beans distributed by WFP in Mafa LGA, Borno State, Nigeria, July 16, 2025. Damilola Onafuwa, WFP Nigeria Communications Service/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY//File Photo

Overview

  • The new UN plan seeks $516 million to reach 2.5 million people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe after a sharp drop in available funding.
  • WFP says its emergency food and nutrition assistance in the northeast will contract to about 72,000 people next month, down from 1.3 million during last year’s lean season.
  • Roughly 3 million children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition nationwide, including about 1 million in the northeast, according to UN officials.
  • Escalating attacks displaced about 3.5 million people in recent months and pushed malnutrition to critical levels, with thousands killed in early 2025.
  • UN leaders signal a transition toward nationally led responses as international support declines, following 2025 shortfalls that exhausted WFP resources and cut aid to more than 300,000 children.