Armed attacks, instability and aid cuts are pushing northern Nigeria towards record levels of hunger, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.

Nearly 35 million people in the north of the country are “projected to face severe food insecurity” from May to September 2026, the United Nations agency said in a report released on Tuesday.

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The figure is the highest recorded in Nigeria – the most populous country in Africa – by the organisation since monitoring began.

A projected 15,000 people will face “catastrophic hunger” or “famine-like conditions” in Borno State, which has borne the brunt of “armed insurgent attacks” over the past 16 years, the report reads.

Malnutrition rates are highest among children in Borno, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, the WFP says. Nearly six million people lack basic minimum food supplies in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, which are mainly comprised of rural farming communities.

“The advance of insurgency presents a serious threat to stability in the north, with consequences reaching beyond Nigeria,” said David Stevenson, WFP’s Nigeria country director. “Communities are under severe pressure from repeated attacks and economic stress.”

Besides Boko Haram in the northeast, Nigeria also suffers violence led by armed gangs in the centre and northwest of the country, where they raid villages, kill people and kidnap for ransom.

Over the past week, the country has experienced three mass kidnappings.

At least 303 children and 12 teachers were abducted by gunmen from the Saint Mary’s Catholic School in north-central Nigeria’s Niger State on Friday.

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In neighbouring Kebbi State, 25 Muslim high school girls were taken, while 38 worshippers were snatched from a church during a livestreamed service in Kwara State.

The hunger crisis in Nigeria and the region is expected to get worse as international bodies trying to assist suffering populations face increasing funding challenges.

The WFP was forced to scale down its nutrition programme in Nigeria in July, affecting more than 300,000 children and exacerbating malnutrition levels from “serious” to “critical” in the third quarter of 2025.

Under President Donald Trump, the United States – the NGO’s largest donor – has slashed aid, leaving the agency at risk of running out of funds for emergency food and nutrition by December.