Nearly five million people facing acute food insecurity in North-East – ActionAid

ActionAid Nigeria has raised the alarm over worsening hunger and malnutrition across the country, revealing that nearly five million people in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe are currently facing acute food insecurity.

The organisation’s Country Director, Andrew Mamedu, who made the disclosure in Abuja during an event to mark World Food Day 2025, themed “Hand in Hand for Better Food and a Better Future”, said the figures reflect a deepening humanitarian crisis driven by insecurity, climate change, and poverty.

“Food insecurity remains widespread across Nigeria, and insecurity continues to keep farmers away from their farmlands during both planting and harvest seasons,” Mamedu said.

Citing projections from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), he noted that 30.6 million Nigerians across 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory risk facing acute food and nutrition insecurity during the June–August 2025 lean season.

Though the figure represents a slight improvement from 33.1 million in 2024, he said the situation remains dire, with Nigeria accounting for one of the world’s highest numbers of food-insecure people.

Mamedu highlighted that hunger hotspots are spreading beyond the Northeast to states like Benue, Kaduna, Kwara, Taraba, and Cross River, where economic shocks, conflict, and displacement are forcing families into deeper food crises.

He pointed out that farmers in Benue and Plateau states have been displaced by recurrent attacks and communal clashes, leading to massive declines in staple crop production.

He also linked the crisis to the country’s rising food inflation rate of 21.87 percent (August 2025) and warned that rural households now spend up to 70 percent of their income on food, while many urban dwellers can no longer afford nutritious diets.

According to Mamedu, the problem is compounded by poverty, which remains the biggest driver of food insecurity. “The World Bank recently warned that about 139 million Nigerians now live below the poverty line. This means that even when food is available, millions cannot afford it,” he said.

ActionAid further drew attention to alarming levels of malnutrition, citing reports that 652 children died from malnutrition in Katsina State within the first half of 2025. Nationwide, malnutrition is responsible for 45 percent of all under-five deaths, with over 2 million children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

The ActionAid Country Director also criticised Nigeria’s failure to meet the Maputo Declaration target of allocating at least 10 percent of its annual budget to agriculture, noting that the 2025 allocation falls about 8 percent short. He described this as a reflection of “insufficient political will to strengthen food systems and rural livelihoods.”

To address the crisis, Mamedu called on the federal and state governments to take urgent, coordinated action, including convening a National Poverty Summit to harmonise policies on food security and poverty eradication, increasing investment in agriculture and climate-resilient farming, particularly for smallholder farmers, women, and youth.

Others are ensuring farmer safety and securing farmlands from banditry and insurgency, fully implementing the Maputo Declaration commitment by allocating at least 10 percent of the national budget to agriculture, and strengthening social protection systems to ensure sustainable support for vulnerable families.

Mamedu also urged state governments to ensure early and full release of capital funds for agricultural development, lamenting that several states have implemented only about 25% of their approved agricultural budgets.

“As we mark World Food Day and prepare for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, we must connect the dots between poverty and hunger.

“Hunger and poverty are not just statistics, they are lived realities for millions of Nigerians. If you are not affected, please speak up and stand in solidarity with those who are,” he added.