The United Nations has issued an urgent warning that approximately 35 million Nigerians are at risk of acute food insecurity during the lean season running from June to August 2026, placing Nigeria among the countries with the most severe active hunger crises in the world.
The UN Humanitarian Country Team said the burden of the crisis was concentrated overwhelmingly in northern Nigeria, where chronic poverty, persistent insecurity, and disrupted agricultural activity had left millions of households without reliable access to food. The body said nearly one in seven Nigerians nationwide was likely to face acute food insecurity during the coming months.
The warning was particularly stark for children. Across the northwest and northeast regions, the UN estimated that approximately 6.4 million children were at risk of acute malnutrition this year, a figure that signals long-term developmental consequences beyond the immediate threat to survival.
The UN said that if assistance was delayed further, families would be forced into increasingly desperate responses: cutting the number of meals eaten each day, selling off productive assets, and withdrawing children from school. It said the educational impact alone could compound poverty across generations.
The body appealed for urgent funding to scale up life-saving assistance to affected communities, warning that the window for effective intervention was narrowing as the lean season drew closer.
