LAGOS: A spike in attacks by militants across northern Nigeria is “driving hunger to levels never seen before” and is expected to result in the worst levels of food insecurity in Africa next year, according to a World Food Programme report released Tuesday.
The food agency of the United Nations projected 35 million people are likely to experience severe hunger in Nigeria by 2026, the highest on the continent and the largest since the agency began recording data in Nigeria.
The WFP also predicted at least 15,000 people in Borno state, the epicenter of Nigeria’s security crisis, will experience catastrophic hunger including famine-like conditions next year. Borno will be classified as Phase 5, the agency’s highest classification of food insecurity, similar to what has been seen in some parts of Gaza and Sudan.
“Northern Nigeria is experiencing the most severe hunger crisis in a decade, with rural farming communities the hardest hit,” the WFP said in a statement.
Widespread attacks by various armed groups have deterred farmers from using their land, officials said.
In October, Al-Qaeda-affiliate Jama’at Nusrat Al-Islam wal-Muslimin took responsibility for its first attack in Nigeria, making the group the latest entrant in a pool of armed groups launching attacks in the country.
More than 300 students and 12 teachers were kidnapped from a school in Niger state on Nov. 21, only four days after after 25 schoolchildren were abducted 170 kilometers (106 miles) away in neighboring Kebbi state.
Nigeria also has been hard hit by a massive scaling down of UN food assistance following US President Donald Trump’s decision to gut the United States Agency for International Development.
The USAID cut ceased funding to the WFP, which said it will run out of resources for emergency food and nutrition assistance in December. Nigeria is one of the few other countries in the region where the cut has deepened the food crisis. In July, the agency suspended food assistance across West and Central Africa.
“Without confirmed funding, millions will be left without support in 2026, fueling instability and deepening a crisis that the world cannot afford to ignore,” the agency said.
UN food agency projects northern Nigeria to experience hunger at unprecedented level in 2026
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UN food agency projects northern Nigeria to experience hunger at unprecedented level in 2026
- WFP also predicted at least 15,000 people in Borno state will experience catastrophic hunger next year
- “Northern Nigeria is experiencing the most severe hunger crisis in a decade, with rural farming communities the hardest hit”
Russian drones, missiles hit railway hub near Ukraine’s capital, railway says
- Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector and infrastructure in recent weeks, targeting power stations and railway hubs
KYIV: A railway hub near Kyiv was attacked during a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack that damaged the depot and railway carriages, Ukrainian state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia said on Saturday.
The railway did not report any casualties from the overnight attack in the town of Fastiv.
Russia has intensified its attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector and infrastructure in recent weeks, targeting power stations and railway hubs.
Ukrzaliznytsia said on the Telegram messaging app that it was forced to cancel several suburban trains near the capital and the city of Chernihiv in northeastern Ukraine.
Emergency services reported a fire and destruction on the territory of the railway station and depot but gave no more details. The report also cited an attack on infrastructure in the Chernihiv region.
Power and heat generation facilities in Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions were targeted in the attack, Ukraine’s ministry for development of communities and territories said.
It said on Telegram that 9,500 customers remained without heat and 34,000 without water supply in the southern Odesa region.
“Port facilities (in Odesa) have also been attacked: part of the infrastructure has been de-energised, and operators have switched to backup power from generators,” the ministry said.
The ministry also reported damages to energy infrastructure in the Kyiv region.
