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”
Venezuela swears in 5,600 troops after US military build-up
- American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87
CARACAS: The Venezuelan army swore in 5,600 soldiers on Saturday, as the United States cranks up military pressure on the oil-producing country.
President Nicolas Maduro has called for stepped-up military recruitment after the United States deployed a fleet of warships and the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
American forces have carried out deadly strikes on more than 20 vessels, killing at least 87.
Washington has accused Maduro of leading the alleged “Cartel of the Suns,” which it declared a terrorist organization last month.
Maduro asserts the American deployment aims to overthrow him and seize the country’s oil reserves.
“Under no circumstances will we allow an invasion by an imperialist force,” Col. Gabriel Rendon said Saturday during a ceremony at Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, in Caracas.
According to official figures, Venezuela has around 200,000 troops and an additional 200,000 police officers.
A former opposition governor died in prison on Saturday where he had been detained on charges of terrorism and incitement, a rights group said.
Alfredo Diaz was at least the sixth opposition member to die in prison since November 2024.
They had been arrested following protests sparked by last July’s disputed election, when Maduro claimed a third term despite accusations of fraud.
The protests resulted in 28 deaths and around 2,400 arrests, with nearly 2,000 people released since then.
Diaz, governor of Nueva Esparta from 2017 to 2021, “had been imprisoned and held in isolation for a year; only one visit from his daughter was allowed,” said Alfredo Romero, director of the NGO Foro Penal, which defends political prisoners.
The group says there are at least 887 political prisoners in Venezuela.
Opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado condemned the deaths of political prisoners in Venezuela during “post-electoral repression.”
“The circumstances of these deaths — which include denial of medical care, inhumane conditions, isolation, torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment — reveal a sustained pattern of state repression,” Machado said in a joint statement with Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate she believes won the election.
