Nigeria: Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe (BAY) states - Situation Report, 3 April 2026

This report is produced by OCHA Nigeria in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It covers the 1-31 March 2026 period. The next report will be issued in May 2026.

Highlights

• Escalating food insecurity pushing millions toward crisis in the Northeast, as some humanitarian assistance pipelines face collapse.
• Insecurity intensifies across Borno and Yobe in March, killing or injuring 700 people and displacing thousands.
• Funding cuts leave more than 900,000 displaced people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) states exposed to overcrowding, failing shelters, and increased fire risks.
• Disease outbreaks and access constraints continue to exacerbate grave health needs across the Northeast.
• Nigeria launches a unified national social protection system linking humanitarian response and poverty reduction

Situation overview

Escalating food insecurity pushes millions in the BAY states toward deeper crisis as assistance pipelines collapse

Food insecurity in the BAY states has sharply worsened, with 4.8 million people now facing Crisis-level or worse conditions (Cadre Harmonisé (CH) Phase 3 or higher), including more than 600,000 in Emergency (CH4). Rising insecurity, climate shocks, market disruptions, and collapsing household purchasing power have intensified hunger across the region. Funding for food assistance has nearly ground to a halt as only 1.3 per cent of the US$224.4 million required for 2026 has been received, forcing major pipeline breaks and leaving millions without support. Additional support to sustain the most urgent food security and nutrition activities will be available in early April through a special six-month Reserve Allocation from the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF) with financial support from the United States. However, needs are enormous and much more support is needed to ensure sustained help is available.

The Food Security Sector warns that food insecurity is expected to deteriorate further between March and May 2026. Insecurity has escalated beyond earlier projections, particularly in Borno and Yobe, disrupting markets, restricting movement to farmlands, and triggering new displacement. Household food stocks are critically low, and rising transport and input costs (driven in part by global energy disruptions linked to the war in the Middle East), are pushing essential commodities out of reach for the poorest families.

Lean-season projections paint an even more alarming picture. Between June and September 2026, the number of people projected to face Crisis or worse is expected to rise to 5.8 million, including 930,000 in Emergency (CH4) and 15,000 in Catastrophe (CH5) in Borno State. Households are likely to face widening food consumption gaps, engage in more extreme coping strategies, and see declining access to agricultural inputs, as insecurity and soaring costs undermine planting for the coming season.

Food assistance pipelines are on the verge of collapse. Of the 1.5 million people targeted for food assistance in 2026, only 35 per cent, all situated in Borno State, have been reached. No beneficiaries have received support in Adamawa and Yobe states due to shortages and access constraints. Livelihood support is similarly overstretched, reaching just 6 per cent of the people targeted for 2026. Operational delivery is increasingly impeded by continued NSAG activities, displacement, and shrinking partner presence. The imminent NHF-funded e-voucher response by the World Food Programme will help address some of these gaps but much more support is needed.

Government-led efforts, ranging from dry-season farming and subsidized inputs in Borno, to grain reserve releases and irrigation schemes in Adamawa, and agricultural empowerment programmes in Yobe, provided limited relief but remain insufficient against the scale of need. Access constraints, high input prices, and insecurity continue to undermine agricultural production and household food availability.

The consequences of inaction are stark. The Food Security Sector warns of rising severe malnutrition, escalating protection risks, further displacement, and the possibility of localized famine-like conditions, particularly in areas already showing pockets of catastrophe (CH5). If farmers cannot safely and adequately plant during the upcoming season, food insecurity could worsen dramatically in the months ahead, threatening lives, eroding dignity, and deepening instability across the BAY states.

Humanitarian partners are urging donors to consider immediate and sustained funding to stabilize food pipelines, strengthen livelihoods, and support integrated responses across nutrition, health, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and protection. Without urgent investment and improved humanitarian access, millions of vulnerable people across the BAY states risk slipping further into hunger and unprecedented suffering.