The United Nations food agency has said it will be forced to suspend food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people in Nigeria’s conflict-hit northeast by the end of July.
The agency disclosed that stocks had run out due to “critical funding shortfalls.”
The World Food Programme’s (WFP) regional head, Margot van der Velden, said, “We will face the heartbreaking reality of having to suspend humanitarian aid for the populations in areas devastated by conflict.
“That means more than 1.3 million people in Nigeria will lose access to food and nutritional support, 150 nutrition clinics in the conflict-ridden Borno State in the northeast may close, 300,000 children will be at risk of severe malnutrition, and 700,000 displaced people will be left with no means of survival,” she said.
For years, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had been the backbone of the humanitarian response in northeastern Nigeria, helping nongovernmental organisations provide food, shelter, and healthcare to millions of people.
The Trump administration has slashed foreign assistance and dismantled USAID, accusing the agency of waste and fraud and supporting a liberal agenda.
Other Western donors have also slashed international aid spending.
Nigeria has budgeted 200 billion naira ($130 million) this year to cushion the shortfall resulting from the withdrawal of funding to the health sector by the US.