The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has raised alarm over a worsening food and nutrition crisis in Nigeria, warning that the country may face deeper challenges as it already bears the highest number of malnourished children in Africa and the second highest globally.
Speaking at a media briefing on Monday in Abuja, Nemat Hajeebhoy, Chief of Nutrition at UNICEF, disclosed that 600,000 children in Nigeria are currently suffering from acute malnutrition, with half of them at risk of developing severe acute malnutrition. “Children with severe acute malnutrition are nine to 11 times more likely to die,” she said.
The media briefing, convened to present the 2025 lean season multisectoral response plan for Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe States, also featured warnings from the World Food Programme (WFP).
Serigne Loum, WFP’s Head of Programme, said Nigeria leads the continent in food insecurity. “Nigeria has the highest number of food insecure people on the continent,” he noted.
The event, organised by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), aimed to mobilise funding and international support for humanitarian interventions in Nigeria’s northeastern region.
