The United States has approved $32.5 million in assistance to Nigeria to address hunger, marking a rare policy shift after most aid was suspended under former President Donald Trump. The funding, delivered through the US mission to Nigeria, will provide food and nutritional support to internally displaced people in conflict-affected areas.
Northern Nigeria is facing an unprecedented hunger crisis, with insecurity and prior funding cuts threatening to leave over 1.3 million people without food and force the closure of 150 nutrition clinics in Borno state. In July, the World Food Programme (WFP) suspended food and nutritional assistance across crisis-hit West and Central African countries due to global aid cuts, leaving food stocks in many areas projected to run out by September.
The US aid will target 764,205 beneficiaries across Nigeria’s northeast and northwest regions, including complementary nutrition top-ups for 41,569 pregnant and breastfeeding women and 43,235 children through electronic food vouchers.
The assistance comes amid escalating violence in northwest and north-central Nigeria, where farmer conflicts over land and water access have intensified, including a June attack that killed 150 people. The northeast is also battling an insurgency that has killed approximately 35,000 civilians and displaced more than 2 million, according to UN figures.
