Source: Frontline Africa
35M NIGERIANS NOW FACE SEVERE HUNGER — AND IT’S GETTING WORSE
27 Jan 2026
35 MILLION NIGERIANS ARE NOW FACING SEVERE HUNGER. This is the highest number ever recorded in the country’s history — and it’s happening in Africa’s largest economy.
In this episode of Frontline Briefing Desk, we break down what is really happening behind Nigeria’s worsening hunger crisis.
The UN food agency has been forced to slash emergency food aid in Nigeria’s northeast from over 1.3 million people to just 70,000, leaving hundreds of thousands of children without life-saving nutrition support. Babies are already dying.
This crisis is not caused by a lack of resources. Nigeria is rich in oil, farmland, and human capital. So why are foreign aid agencies scrambling to feed Nigerian citizens while the government claims it has no money?
We examine: Why 35 million Nigerians are projected to face severe hunger
How fuel subsidy removal, naira devaluation, and inflation pushed food prices up over 5x Why electricity tariffs and university fees exploded while incomes collapsed
Where the trillions of naira saved from subsidy removals actually went
Why social protection programs failed to reach most Nigerians How hunger, insecurity, and mass poverty are fueling instability
Why Africa’s largest economy now depends on foreign aid to keep children alive This is not just a humanitarian crisis — it is a governance crisis.
When economic “reforms” make citizens poorer and governments richer, the consequences are dangerous and destabilizing. Hunger is not patient. And hungry people do not wait forever.