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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The umbrella body of the World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs), has warned that 31 million Nigerians risk severe hunger during the 2025 lean season—making it the largest food crisis globally.
This was contained in a report presented by Country Director of Save the Children; Country Director, Action Against Hunger, Nigeria; and Director Programme, Quality and Influencing, Plan International, Helen Idion, to mark the 16th Africa Food Security and Nutrition Day, in Abuja.
According to the report, 3.5 million children under the age of five suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), with 1.2 million of them urgently requiring life-saving treatment.
They revealed that 5.4 million children nationwide are affected by acute malnutrition. Between October and December 2025, about 600,000 children under five in six northern states—Adamawa, Borno, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara—face severe acute malnutrition.
Without urgent intervention, they warned that 96,000 children could die, translating to more than 1,000 preventable child deaths daily.
Based on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) covering May 2024 to April 2025, they highlighted alarming hunger levels across 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), emphasising that hunger and malnutrition should be treated as non-negotiable human rights issues.
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“Food security and nutrition must be seen as a right, not a privilege. No child should die from hunger or malnutrition—not today, not tomorrow, not ever,” they said.
They called on the Nigerian government, development partners, and international donors to declare an emergency response and prioritise increased funding for life-saving nutrition commodities, including locally produced Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) and Therapeutic Milk and expand targeted nutrition support for 800,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women at risk of acute malnutrition.
In addition, they called for support for local production of fortified foods to enhance sustainability and community resilience, strengthen data-driven coordination through Cadre Harmonisé and IPC analyses and scale up investment in the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) to expand life-saving impact for vulnerable children.
The humanitarian actors warned that malnutrition has irreversible effects on children’s physical growth, cognitive development, and learning capacity—with long-term consequences for Nigeria’s human capital and economic productivity.
They said that within the next three months, all available resources and efforts must be focused on preventing deaths among the 600,000 children at imminent risk across northern Nigeria.
“No child should die from preventable causes like hunger or illness. This is not just a humanitarian issue—it is a test of our collective resolve,” they added.
