The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and Nigerian government officials have launched an appeal for US$910 million to address the escalating humanitarian crisis in the north-eastern states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY states), where a total of 7.8 million people are estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance.
The 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) was released on Thursday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. The appeal aims to raise nearly one billion US dollars to provide life-saving assistance to some 3.6 million people affected by more than 15 years of insurgency and insecurity in north-east Nigeria.
Officials say humanitarian needs have recently been exacerbated by climate shocks, including devastating floods, and worsening economic problems. Meanwhile, armed conflict, disease outbreaks as well as food insecurity and malnutrition are still main drivers behind the needs.
Mohammed Malick Fall, the Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, highlighted the growing challenges.
“This occasion underscores our collective resolve as a community to millions of people here in Nigeria. We have seen a spike in the number of people facing food insecurity. We have also seen a rise in children suffering from malnutrition,” he said.
“In 2024, we experienced perhaps one of the worst floods.”
Last year's floods affected 34 out of 36 states, with Borno the worst hit. Overall, the floods impacted 3 million people across the country, claiming nearly 700 lives and displacing nearly 900,000 women, men and children.
Nigeria is highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The extreme weather events associated with the climate crisis destroyed 226,000 homes, while other critical infrastructure was either damaged or destroyed. In addition, 1.3 million hectares of farmland were inundated in the middle of the harvest.
A severe nationwide cholera outbreak due to the recent flooding is also exacerbating humanitarian needs, particularly in the northern states.
“Humanitarian interventions are key in saving lives, but they can't be the solution for all the problems across Nigeria. What is required also is for development to step in, that we double down on peace building," Fall added.
The HNRP 2025 prioritizes food security, health, water and sanitation, with a special focus on vulnerable groups such as women, children and people with disabilities. The plan also seeks to address the root causes of poverty and underdevelopment while building the resilience of vulnerable communities.
Fall noted that only 57 percent of last year's funding target was met, a figure still slightly higher than the global average. The 2024 plan received almost $527 million out of a total request of nearly $927 million.
Nigeria's Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Nentawe Yilwatda, stressed the importance of a proactive approach to the emergency.
“The 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan prioritizes saving lives, building resilience, and adopting adaptive strategies to address evolving challenges with limited resources. This plan shifts from a reactive to a proactive approach, aiming to mitigate disasters before they occur,” Yilwatda said.
“While the focus remains on Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states, it also acknowledges growing humanitarian needs in the north-west and north-central regions.”
Zubaida Umar, Director General of Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency, emphasized the need for collaboration.
“The success of this plan lies in collaboration, synergy, and a people-centered approach. The numbers in this report represent real lives — children, women and men, families whose resilience inspires us to act with urgency and compassion,” Umar said.
For more than 15 years, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states have struggled with an armed insurgency by the group Boko Haram and widespread insecurity from armed gangs, creating one of Africa's most severe humanitarian crises.
In parts of the region, insecurity has worsened as organized armed groups continue to attack civilians.
Earlier this January, at least 40 farmers - all male civilians - were reportedly killed by armed groups in an incident in Dumba community in Kukawa, Borno State, another grim reminder of the profound dangers civilians continue to face in conflict-affected parts of the BAY states. In another major attack in September 2024, more than 100 men and boys lost their lives in Mafa, Yobe State.
Armed groups deliberately target civilians engaged in livelihood activities, such as farming and fishing, in areas under their control. Failure to comply with armed group rules and levies often leads to abductions, killings and violence, thereby reinforcing the armed group's control over the population.
Fifteen years on, the crisis in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, which has claimed the lives of some 35,000 civilians, continues unabated and is characterized by widespread population displacement, much of it caused by the Boko Haram insurgency. Approximately 2.3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) have been recorded by the end of 2024, including an estimated 260,000 who have fled to neighboring states.
Each year, countries in the Sahel face a difficult lean season between planting and harvest. During this time, food supplies are low, pasture for livestock is scarce, and households rely on a variety of coping strategies to meet their food needs.
The UN estimates that 33 million Nigerians will be food insecure during the lean season in 2025, up from 26.5 million last year. In the BAY states, 5.1 million people will be affected.
Nearly 5.4 million children under the age of five in north-west and north-east Nigeria are at risk of acute malnutrition. Of these, 1.8 million children are at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) without immediate intervention. In addition, about 787,000 pregnant and lactating women are acutely malnourished.
Nigeria, Africa's largest economy and most populous country with over 229.2 million people, faces increasing violence from Islamic militants, particularly in the north-east, as well as large-scale criminal banditry concentrated in the north-west, communal violence between Christians and Muslims in the middle belt region, and competition for land and resources throughout the country.
Ongoing conflict, banditry, violence, the effects of climate change, escalating inflation, and the rising cost of both food and essential non-food commodities are driving food insecurity across the country. Nigerian authorities - at both the state and federal levels - have largely failed to protect their citizens from the violence.
Humanitarian agencies warn that the ongoing crisis in north-western Nigeria is being neglected. The north-west region has traditionally been left out of the broader humanitarian response in Nigeria, and in 2025 it is again. As a result, very few aid organizations are working in the region.
An estimated 1.3 million internally displaced persons have been recorded in the north-western states by the end of 2024, mostly as a result of violence.
The international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has repeatedly warned that despite the severity of the crisis in the north-west, the situation is largely ignored by both donors and aid agencies.
MSF has stressed that while both the north-east and north-west regions remain affected by high levels of malnutrition and preventable diseases, the non-inclusion of the north-west in Nigeria's Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is alarming.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Nigeria 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), report, published January 23, 2025
https://reliefweb.int/attachments/13b0fc4e-2ce6-4e3a-b2db-33716e12d1fc/HNRP_2025_Nigeria%20final%2023%2C%20January%202025.pdf