• 300,000 Nigerian children at risk
• WFP urgently needs over $453m in next six months

Sopuruchi Onwuka

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has warned that 55 million people across West and Central Africa are expected to face crisis-level hunger or worse during this year’s lean season, from June to August.

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The warning, issued over the weekend, is based on the latest analysis from the Cadre Harmonize, the regional food security framework equivalent to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). The scale runs from one to five, with phase five indicating catastrophe or famine.

WFP links the worsening food crisis to escalating violence, mass displacement, and shrinking humanitarian funding.

The agency estimates that 13 million children will suffer from malnutrition this year, while more than three million people will face emergency levels of food insecurity. That figure is more than double the 1.5 million recorded in 2020.

Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, and Niger account for 77 per cent of those affected. In Nigeria’s Borno State alone, about 15,000 people are at risk of catastrophic hunger, the first time such conditions have been recorded there in nearly a decade.

While conflict, displacement, and economic shocks have long driven hunger in the region, WFP says funding cuts are now pushing communities beyond their ability to cope.

“The reduced funding we saw in 2025 has deepened hunger and malnutrition across the region,” said Sarah Longford, WFP Deputy Regional Director. “As needs outpace funding, so too does the risk of young people falling into desperation.”

WFP says it urgently needs more than $453 million over the next six months to maintain its operations across West and Central Africa. The effects of funding shortfalls are already visible.

In Mali, areas that received reduced food rations saw a nearly 65 per cent increase in acute hunger (IPC phase 3 and above) since 2023. By contrast, communities that continued to receive full rations recorded a 34 per cent decline. Ongoing insecurity has also disrupted supply routes to major cities, leaving 1.5 million of the country’s most vulnerable people at risk of crisis-level hunger.

In Nigeria, funding gaps forced WFP to scale back nutrition programs last year, affecting more than 300,000 children. Since then, malnutrition levels in several northern states have deteriorated from “serious” to “critical.”

The agency expects to reach only 72,000 people in February, down sharply from the 1.3 million assisted during the 2025 lean season.

In Cameroon, more than half a million vulnerable people could lose access to food assistance in the coming weeks.

WFP stressed that sustained funding has helped improve food security where programmes remain in place. In five countries, the agency has worked with local communities to rehabilitate 300,000 hectares of farmland, supporting more than four million people in over 3,400 villages.

Its programmes also support school meals, nutrition services, infrastructure, capacity building, and seasonal assistance to help families cope with extreme weather and insecurity, stabilise local economies, and reduce long-term dependence on aid.

“To break the cycle of hunger for future generations, we need a paradigm shift in 2026,” Longford said. She called on governments and partners to increase investment in preparedness, anticipatory action, and resilience-building to empower local communities.