Borno at Risk of Catastrophic Hunger, UN Warns

Nigeria’s Borno State is at risk of catastrophic hunger, known as IPC Phase 5, for the first time in nearly a decade, according to a warning from UN’s the World Food Programme (WFP).

IPC Phase 5 is the most severe level on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale. It indicates an extreme lack of food, very high levels of acute malnutrition among children, rising deaths linked to hunger or disease, and a collapse of livelihoods.

WFP on Friday said about 15,000 people in Borno could face the most severe level of food insecurity during the June–August 2026 lean season unless urgent funding and support are provided.

The warning is part of a wider food security assessment for West and Central Africa, which shows that Nigeria is among the four countries accounting for the region’s hunger crisis. Alongside Chad, Cameroon and Niger, Nigeria makes up 77 per cent of the region’s food-insecure population.

WFP said conflict, displacement and economic hardship continue to drive hunger in northeastern Nigeria, especially in Borno, which has been at the centre of years of insurgency and insecurity. Reduced humanitarian funding has also limited aid agencies’ ability to reach vulnerable communities.

Borno at Risk of Catastrophic Hunger, UN Warns. Credit: UN

The agency said funding shortfalls in 2025 forced it to scale down nutrition programmes in Nigeria, affecting more than 300,000 children. Since then, malnutrition levels in several northern states have worsened from “serious” to “critical.”

WFP warned that the situation could deteriorate further in 2026. In February, the agency said it would be able to assist only about 72,000 people in Nigeria, far short of the 1.3 million it supported during the 2025 lean season.

Across West and Central Africa, WFP estimates that 55 million people will face crisis levels of hunger or worse in 2026, while more than 13 million children are expected to suffer from malnutrition.

The agency said it urgently needs more than $453 million over the next six months to continue providing life-saving food and nutrition assistance in Nigeria and across the region.