Hunger has reached a critical level in northern Nigeria: more than 17 million people are at risk, warns the World Food Programme.

The food crisis in northern Nigeria has reached its worst level in nearly a decade, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. According to the organization, more than 17 million people living in nine conflict-affected states are facing acute food insecurity, due to the combined effects of violence, population displacement, and a lack of humanitarian funding.

The latest food security analysis reveals a worsening situation, with nearly two million more people facing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic hunger than previously projected. The World Food Programme (WFP) believes this deterioration is occurring at a particularly critical time, during the lean season, when household food reserves are typically depleted before the next harvest.

Borno State, the epicenter of the Islamist insurgency that has plagued the northeast of the country for several years, is particularly affected. More than three million people there are suffering from acute food insecurity, including more than 750,000 facing extremely severe famine conditions.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), armed groups in the northeast and criminal gangs operating in other northern regions are preventing farmers from accessing their land, displacing entire communities, and significantly hindering the delivery of humanitarian aid. This insecurity is exacerbating a crisis already fueled by inflation and economic hardship.

The WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Kinday Samba, warned that lack of access to food increases the risks of displacement, exploitation, and instability. He also stressed that violence continues to spread to new areas, forcing more families to abandon their farmland.

Faced with the scale of the crisis, the World Food Programme (WFP) indicates that it no longer has the resources to meet all the needs. The agency specifies that it will only be able to assist less than half of the 1,3 million people it helped last year in three northeastern states. To maintain its food, nutrition, and logistics operations over the next six months, it estimates it needs emergency funding of $89 million.