The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it has officially resumed its vital emergency food assistance operations across Borno and Yobe states, following severe funding constraints that forced a temporary suspension of distributions in March.

According to the newly released May 2026 WFP Nigeria Country Brief, the agency leveraged electronic vouchers in April to rapidly reach 420,163 individuals with critical food aid, helping families redeem essential items through a network of contracted local retailers and vendors.

In total, WFP assisted 555,930 people across its various Nigerian portfolios in April, 60 percent of whom were women and girls, distributing 257 metric tons of food and transferring USD 4.6 million in direct cash assistance.

A Looming Humanitarian Crisis
The resumption of aid comes at a volatile time for the region.

A compounding mix of protracted conflict, escalating economic pressures, and climatic shocks continues to drive a deep humanitarian crisis across Nigeria.

Currently, more than 3.6 million people remain internally displaced across the country’s northeast, northwest, and northcentral states.

Alarmingly, data from the latest Cadre Harmonise analysis warns that 34.8 million people in Nigeria are projected to face “crisis or worse” (IPC3+) levels of food insecurity between July and September 2026, the lean seasonal window spanning cultivation to harvest.

Monitoring data underlines the urgency: Remote process monitoring revealed that 65 percent of surveyed households suffered from inadequate food consumption in the first quarter of 2026, a stark 26-percentage-point surge compared to the final quarter of 2025. Additionally, families are experiencing heightened stress, evidenced by a 4-point spike in the average reduced coping strategy index

Operations Scale Up Across Nutrition and Resilience
Despite lean resources, WFP has pressed forward with its five-year Country Strategic Plan (2023–2027), working in tandem with the Nigerian government to stabilize vulnerable communities.

Integrated Nutrition: In April, WFP combined general food aid with malnutrition prevention initiatives to support 22,262 children as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Furthermore, 79,115 moderately malnourished individuals received specialized supplementation through primary health facilities, while another 56,652 malnourished children were treated via community-based “Tom Brown” nutritional activities said.

Smallholder Resilience: In Northwest Nigeria, WFP finalised a sweeping resilience project in Katsina and Sokoto states targeting 3,990 smallholder farmers.

The initiative provided critical agricultural production support, farm-to-market linkages, and built a community grain bank to sharply curb post-harvest crop losses. Concurrently, 1,710 households received cash-based support in exchange for participating in communal asset maintenance.

Voices from the Field: For small holders like Atika, a mother of six who processes rice for a living, the resilience intervention has been transformative. “For many years, could only afford to process small quantities of rice, barely enough to feed her children,” the brief notes.

Through WFP’s economic backing and a community savings mechanism, Atika expanded her enterprise, stabilized her household income, and can now consistently afford to keep her children enrolled in school.

Deep Funding Gaps Threaten Future Progress
According to the UN Agency, while April marked a pivotal recovery period for operations, WFP’s long-term capability to prevent a wider catastrophe hangs in the balance due to severe financial shortfalls.

World Food Programme (WFP) Nigeria 2026 financial portfolio

WFP faces a stark USD 139.72 million funding deficit over the next six months alone to sustain its operations through the height of the lean season.
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Though key international donors, including Canada, the European Commission, Ireland, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Thailand, UNCERF, the United Kingdom, and the US-funded CBPF, have stepped forward with contributions in 2026, the aid agency warns that sustained financial commitments will be paramount to prevent future, forced pauses in life-saving relief.