The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) says it will stop delivering food and nutrition assistance to about 1.3 million people in Nigeria’s insurgency‑ravaged northeast once its final rations are handed out at the end of July.
WFP’s warehouses emptied in early July after months of funding shortfalls that it links to sweeping cuts in U.S. development spending since President Donald Trump began dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Last year USAID covered roughly 45 percent of WFP’s budget for the region.
“Without new money families will be pushed beyond their limits; some may migrate, others could be lured into insurgent groups just to survive,”
— David Stevenson, WFP country director
Key numbers
- $131 million — minimum cash WFP says it needs to keep operations running through December.
- 150+ nutrition clinics in Borno and Yobe slated to close, cutting treatment for 300,000 children under two.
- 2 million people already displaced and hundreds killed since Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province renewed attacks this year.
- Planned expansion to reach another 720,000 people in the second half of 2025 now on hold.
Stevenson warned the crisis has outgrown purely humanitarian labels: “It’s becoming a threat to regional stability.” Unless donors step in, WFP will begin winding down its staff and logistics hubs in the coming weeks, leaving local authorities to cope with spiralling hunger and insecurity on their own.