The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has raised alarm over Nigeria’s worsening food and nutrition crisis, with the country already flagged for having the highest number of malnourished children in Africa and the second highest globally. During a media briefing on Monday, Nemat Hajeebhoy, UNICEF’s Chief of Nutrition, revealed that 600,000 children in Nigeria are currently suffering from acute malnutrition, with half of them at risk of developing severe acute malnutrition. These children are nine to 11 times more likely to die, she warned.
Hajeebhoy’s statement comes as part of the 2025 lean season multisectoral response plan for Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe States, where food insecurity is most critical. The brief also highlighted that Nigeria has the highest number of food-insecure people on the African continent.
In the same briefing, Serigne Loum, Head of Programme at the World Food Programme (WFP), echoed these concerns, further emphasizing the need for immediate international assistance.
Trond Jensen, Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Nigeria, disclosed that a total of \$300 million is urgently required to address the crisis, including \$160 million for food security, nutrition, water, sanitation, and other essential services. However, funding gaps, including a freeze on U.S. contributions and cuts from other donors, have forced OCHA to scale back its operations, reducing the number of people they can help from 4 million to 2 million.
Jensen and other experts called on governments and international partners to step in, as Nigeria faces an escalating humanitarian disaster.
