Nigeria: WFP to suspend aid for 1.3 million in August, amid severe funding crisis | United Nations

“Due to the severe funding cuts that World Food Program is facing, we have exhausted our food and nutrition resources,” said Margot van der Velden, WFP’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa. “At the beginning of August, we will have to face the heartbreaking reality of having to suspend our operations for the populations in northeast Nigeria.” Margot van der Velden briefed reporters today (Jul 23) on the humanitarian situation in Nigeria stating that WFP will suspend all emergency food and nutrition aid for over 1.3 million people in northeast Nigeria at the start of August, citing critical funding shortages and a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation. The looming cuts in Nigeria reflect a broader funding crisis across the region. “This crisis is not just in Nigeria,” van der Velden said. “Across West and Central Africa, WFP is facing critical funding shortfalls that are forcing us to reduce and suspend many operations in some of the most fragile contexts on the continent.” WFP assistance in the region has dropped by 60 percent compared to last year. In Mali and Niger, emergency support has been slashed by over 80 percent, van der Velden said. Overall, WFP is now only reaching five million people, a dramatic decrease given the scale of need. She also highlighted that nearly ten million people are displaced across West and Central Africa, including around two million in northeast Nigeria alone. Many are trapped in areas they cannot leave. Chad, meanwhile, has received 1.7 million refugees from Sudan, further stretching regional capacities. The situation is being exacerbated by a surge in violence. “We see an uptick of the attacks of the armed groups in the northeast of Nigeria,” van der Velden said. Inflation and climate-related shocks are compounding the crisis. “We’ve also, of course, been faced in Nigeria with this unfortunate high-level inflation of food prices,” she said. “There is a larger proportion of populations that have difficulties meeting their basic needs on the high costs of a minimum food basket. And that is also aggravating.” Last year’s devastating floods in northeast Nigeria destroyed harvests and continue to hinder planting efforts this season. Van der Velden said the current crisis is the result of multiple compounding factors: rising needs driven by conflict, inflation, and climate shocks – all coming to a head just as WFP faces a sharp drop in funding.


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