ABUJA, Nigeria (FN) — Children are collapsing in classrooms. Mothers are skipping meals to feed their babies. Entire villages are surviving on cassava peels and dirty water. And yet, critics say, Nigeria’s leadership remains largely silent as the country faces one of its worst hunger crises in modern history.
The United Nations has sounded a dire alarm: 31 million Nigerians are now facing acute food insecurity, including 3.3 million children suffering from severe malnutrition — many of whom will die without urgent intervention.
“This is not a food crisis. This is a moral catastrophe,” said one humanitarian worker in Borno State. “And it is being allowed to happen in full view of the world.”
The new figures, released by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and World Food Programme, show a sharp rise in hunger levels across the country, exacerbated by years of armed conflict, flooding, climate shocks, inflation, and what many describe as government paralysis.
In Nigeria’s northeast, where Boko Haram and Islamic State-linked fighters have waged a decade-long insurgency, food shortages have pushed entire communities into desperation. But the crisis is no longer confined to conflict zones. From the Middle Belt to the South, families are selling off land and household belongings just to afford basic food.
“I haven’t eaten in two days,” said Aisha, a 14-year-old girl in Zamfara. “My brother died last month. He was so hungry, he fainted while walking home.”
Government Response Sparks Outrage
The Nigerian government insists it is responding. The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs announced the rollout of food distribution schemes and conditional cash transfers targeting vulnerable households.
But many Nigerians say these interventions are too little, too late.
“The food is not getting to us,” said Yakubu Mohammed, a farmer in Plateau State. “They announce aid on TV, but nothing reaches our village.”
Activists and opposition lawmakers have accused the Tinubu administration of downplaying the crisis, prioritizing politics over people, and spending billions on luxury projects while children starve.
“They are building airports and buying SUVs while families dig through trash for food,” said Senator Musa Al-Kaduna during a heated debate in the National Assembly. “This is criminal neglect.”
Some international aid groups have expressed frustration over what they describe as bureaucratic roadblocks and lack of political will, which delay food access and frustrate partnerships.
“Let us be clear,” said a WFP official. “Hunger in Nigeria is not just about poor harvests — it’s about failed governance. Aid at Breaking Point
The UN warns that without an immediate injection of funds, food aid could be cut for millions in the coming weeks. The WFP says it faces a 200 million dollars funding gap to sustain its operations in Nigeria through the end of the year.
“With every day of delay, we lose more children,” said a UN emergency coordinator. “The world must act — and Nigeria’s leaders must lead.”
But donors appear fatigued. Several Western nations have slashed humanitarian budgets due to global conflicts and domestic pressures. Some humanitarian experts fear that Nigeria’s crisis may be overlooked entirely as international focus shifts to the Middle East and Ukraine.
A Looming Famine?
Though officials are careful not to use the word “famine,” aid workers on the ground say the signs are there: wasting children, widespread crop failures, empty markets, and families fleeing not war — but hunger.
“If this isn’t famine, what is?” asked Father Matthew Umeh, a Catholic priest in Benue State. “The body count is rising — not from bullets, but from empty stomachs.”
In the meantime, the streets of Abuja bustle with normalcy. Politicians trade barbs. Luxury cars line the gates of elite private schools. And in dusty corners of the North, mothers weep over the bodies of children who never had a chance.
“They keep promising us food,” said Mariam, a displaced mother of five in Borno. “But all I see are graves.”
