The cut will also close 150 nutrition clinics, halting treatment for 300,000 malnourished children.
Over 1.3 million Nigerians risk starvation as the World Food Programme (WFP) warns of suspending food aid by August due to severe funding cuts. “We only have resources to go on until this month, and the way things are looking, people are at risk of starvation,” said Chi Lael, WFP’s spokesperson in Nigeria.
Lael confirmed the agency has no financial backup. “We are using all the money we have, which takes us to July,” she added. The cut will also close 150 nutrition clinics, halting treatment for 300,000 malnourished children.
WFP blamed the crisis on sharp declines in foreign aid, especially from the U.S., which once funded half of its Nigeria operations. The situation worsens long-standing issues in the Lake Chad Basin—conflict, displacement, and extreme weather.
Displaced mother Murka in Yobe said, “The WFP food ration only lasts 15 days.” Another woman, Yagana, shared, “Sometimes I boil water just to calm the children.”
“Lael concluded, “The only hope they can find in their lives comes in the form of food assistance—and that hope is now under threat.”