🇳🇬 North-East Nigeria at Risk as Humanitarian Aid Dries Up — WFP Warns of Rising Boko Haram Threat

 

Widespread aid cuts in Borno and surrounding states have left displaced communities vulnerable to militant recruitment, raising fears of renewed insurgency across Nigeria’s northeast.

Zig Diaries Humanitarian 

Date: Wednesday, 31 July 2025
Time: 14:00 WAT
Location: Gwoza, Nigeria

The World Food Programme confirmed it has run out of food support for displaced persons in northeast Nigeria, raising alarms over youth recruitment into Boko Haram.

Drastic reductions in humanitarian funding in northeast Nigeria have led to a suspension of food aid to thousands of displaced families — a vacuum that could fuel a resurgence of Boko Haram insurgency, aid workers and survivors have warned.

According to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), the agency has officially run out of food to distribute in the region, where nearly 1.4 million people are entirely reliant on humanitarian support.

“It will be much easier for militants to lure youths to join them and spiral insecurity across the whole region,” said Head of WFP Operations, Trust Mlambo, in an interview with the BBC.

This development comes amid growing concerns that desperation among displaced persons — many living in dire conditions — could tip communities back into instability, especially in insurgent-prone zones like Gwoza, Maiduguri, and Bama.

Aisha Abubakar, a 40-year-old mother from Borno State, fled to Gwoza after insurgents attacked her village.

“My husband and six children were killed in the bush,” she said, clutching her blue debit aid card while waiting for a food distribution.
“Life in the village was unbearable. We were always on the run.”

Now remarried and living in the Gwoza IDP camp with her infant child, Aisha received $20 worth of aid this month — which she used to buy a sack of maize. Like many others in the camp, she says she could never return to her village.

Boko Haram — once a fringe religious group — began violent operations in 2009 and has since transformed into one of the world’s deadliest jihadist outfits. Over the years, it has killed thousands and displaced millions, with several splinter groups pledging allegiance to the Islamic State.

Despite military operations and garrison towns like Gwoza, militants continue to operate from forested enclaves in the Sambisa region, exploiting both terrain and civilian vulnerability.

As aid agencies raise red flags, there is growing urgency for restored funding and sustainable security measures to prevent the return of full-blown insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast.

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🏷️Tags: Nigeria, Boko Haram, Humanitarian Aid, Internally Displaced Persons, WFP, Gwoza, Borno State
#Nigeria #BokoHaram #HumanitarianCrisis #IDPs #Gwoza #WFP #FoodInsecurity #ZigHumanitarianNews