By Deborah Nnamdi
The United States has approved $32.5 million in humanitarian assistance to help Nigeria tackle a worsening hunger crisis — a significant move following years of reduced aid after former President Donald Trump suspended most funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
According to a statement released by the U.S. Mission to Nigeria on Wednesday, the new funding will provide food and nutritional support to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in conflict-affected regions of the country.
The aid comes amid growing alarm over widespread food insecurity in northern Nigeria, driven by insecurity, climate shocks, and global funding shortfalls.
In July, Margot van der Velden, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Regional Director for West Africa, warned that more than 1.3 million people in the region could face severe hunger, and as many as 150 nutrition clinics in Borno State were at risk of closure.
Earlier this year, the WFP suspended food aid across parts of West and Central Africa due to major funding cuts from the U.S. and other international donors — severely straining emergency operations.
Food stocks were expected to run out by September across many crisis-hit countries, leaving millions without critical assistance, the WFP said.
The U.S. Mission noted that the new funding will reach approximately 764,205 people in Nigeria’s northeast and northwest regions. This includes targeted nutritional support for 41,569 pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls, as well as 43,235 children, delivered via electronic food vouchers.
The humanitarian crisis is further compounded by rising violence in Nigeria’s northwest and north-central regions, where deadly attacks and farmer-herder conflicts have intensified in recent months. In June alone, more than 150 people were killed in a single attack in north-central Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the country continues to battle a long-running insurgency in the northeast that has claimed an estimated 35,000 lives and displaced over 2 million people, according to the United Nations.
