Hunger Driving Nigerians Into Banditry as Food Crisis Reaches Decade-High, UN Warns

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has raised alarm over a worsening food crisis in northern Nigeria, warning that severe hunger is pushing some desperate residents to join armed groups and bandit gangs in search of food and a means of survival.

According to the WFP, more than 17 million people across nine conflict-affected states in northern Nigeria are experiencing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of hunger, marking the worst food insecurity recorded in the region in nearly a decade.

Nigeria has been battling a jihadist insurgency in the Northeast since 2009, with violence escalating again since 2025. The insecurity has also spread into parts of the Northwest, where communities continue to grapple with attacks by heavily armed bandit groups.

WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Kinday Samba, said the growing crisis is becoming increasingly difficult to contain as violence spreads across more communities.

"What concerns us most is how this crisis is expanding," Samba said, adding that the worsening insecurity is forcing farmers off their land, displacing families and limiting humanitarian access to affected areas.

The situation has been further compounded by reductions in international humanitarian funding, including aid cuts by the United States under President Donald Trump, as well as decreased support from other Western donor countries.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently reported that poverty has increased under President Bola Tinubu's administration, despite ongoing economic reforms that economists say are necessary for long-term stability but have also contributed to rising living costs.

The WFP noted that growing insecurity has significantly restricted its operations, revealing that the number of inaccessible locations for its frontline workers has doubled. An additional 15 areas are now classified as partially inaccessible due to security concerns.

With government presence remaining limited outside major urban centres, many rural communities have become increasingly vulnerable to attacks by insurgents and criminal gangs.

Describing the situation as rapidly deteriorating, the WFP said Nigeria's food security crisis is worsening faster than previously projected, with conflict driving hunger in several northern states to levels not witnessed in almost ten years.

Borno State, the epicentre of the insurgency, remains the hardest-hit area, where more than three million people are facing acute food insecurity. Of that number, approximately 10,000 people are experiencing catastrophic levels of hunger, the agency warned.