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Overview
Nigeria's hunger score in 2023 was 28.3, placing it 109th out of 125 countries on the Global Hunger Index, down six places from 103rd in 2022. The escalation reflects compounding local and regional challenges, exacerbated by global events. Pervasive insecurity, poor macroeconomic conditions and political tensions characterised January and February 2023, with recurrent displacement of more than 1.2 million people in the north-west and north-central states [1] and ongoing and widespread displacement affecting 2.3 million people in the north-east [2]. The disruption of household traditional agricultural livelihoods due to limited or no access to farmland, coupled with scarce non-farm opportunities in garrison towns in the north-east, has forced some vulnerable households to risk harm and secondary displacement by returning to insecure areas, street begging, engaging in exploitative activities, or resorting to other negative coping strategies in search of livelihoods amid ongoing shocks.
Nigeria's harvest season spans into January, leading to lower food prices and stable household consumption patterns.
However, by February 2023, rising hunger across Nigeria's northern states - the mainstay of the country's grain supply - reflected a complex combination of persistent and unprecedentedly high poverty levels, concurrent conflicts, and harsh climatic conditions. These were compounded by floods that affected harvests across the country in 2022.
Agro-food businesses, primarily reliant on imports, faced additional challenges from high transportation costs propelled by the depreciation of the Nigerian Naira and the disruption of global supply chains related to the Ukraine crisis. The shortage of cash notes in January and February 2023 resulting from the redesign of the national currency hindered business transactions and led to a 22.12 percent surge in food prices, making them unaffordable for the vulnerable households already struggling with poverty.
After over 14 years of violent conflict, life in the northeast States of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe has become increasingly challenging, especially for internally displaced persons (IDPs), some in camps since 2014. In the northcentral and northwestern states, killings and abductions by armed groups forced rural households to move to urban areas.
Persistent insecurity, limited access to farmland, dire macroeconomic conditions, and a widening gap between available resources and requirements further exacerbated the situation.
WFP's Executive Board approved an extension of Nigeria's initial Country Strategic Plan (CSP 2019-2022) until February 2023. The two-month extension allowed WFP to continue addressing emergency food and nutrition needs and building the resilience of vulnerable populations. It also provided more time to integrate lessons learned from the initial CSP into the succeeding CSP that started in March 2023. These included a heightened emphasis on holistic solutions achieved through strengthening sustainable local food systems.
In alignment with evidence from market monitoring, Cadre Harmonisé analysis, and other data sources, WFP delivered emergency food assistance via context-appropriate modalities while also seizing opportunities to support climate-smart income-generating activities.
In January and February 2023, WFP provided assistance to 1.2 million people on monthly basis. The assistance included unconditional food transfers, malnutrition prevention and treatment. WFP distributed 2,056 livestock asset creation and livelihood initiatives and provided 247,770 saplings of trees with nutritional and economic value to augment the recovery of vulnerable people affected by continuous shocks.
WFP also strengthened partnerships with the Government, United Nations agencies, international and national non-governmental organisations, and communities.
As a key partner and enabler for improved food security outcomes across the country, WFP, together with the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (FMHAPA), facilitated stakeholder working groups to streamline standard operating procedures for shock-responsive social protection programmes. Previously managed through separate national coordination mechanisms, the streamlined procedures optimise social protection initiatives for greater efficiency and impact.
WFP-led Common Services continued to provide essential logistics, telecommunications and air transport services, enabling the humanitarian community in north-eastern Nigeria to efficiently deliver life-saving assistance to vulnerable people. At the end of the CSP extension, the Logistics Sector's warehouses held 1,607 metric tonnes of supplies for 14 agencies, while 1,048 users from 82 agencies benefited from the emergency telecommunications sector's secure communications, IT support and Internet connectivity. The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service operated two medical evacuation flights, in addition to demand-driven fixed and rotary-wing flights transporting 6,816 humanitarian personnel from 105 agencies.