Onome Amuge

Nigeria’s hunger crisis has worsened sharply, with the country plunging to 115th out of 123 nations in the 2025 Global Hunger Index (GHI), its lowest ranking in nearly two decades.

The report, jointly published by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe, describes the situation as serious and deteriorating, revealing that Nigeria’s GHI score has slipped from 28.8 in 2024 to 32.8 in 2025, pushing it further into the category of countries suffering a serious food crisis.

It marks the continuation of a troubling trajectory that has persisted for 17 years, during which Nigeria has remained trapped within the same serious hunger range, despite its vast agricultural potential, decades of reform initiatives, and billions spent on food security programmes.

The 2025 GHI attributes Nigeria’s worsening hunger indicators to a toxic mix of armed conflict, extreme weather, and faltering economic policies, which have collectively eroded rural livelihoods and crippled food production.

“The killings of farmers, exceptionally heavy rainfall, and devastating floods that ravaged farms in early 2025 have been major drivers of food insecurity,” the report said. In states such as Benue, Kogi, and Kebbi  (major grain producers), thousands of hectares of farmland were submerged this year, wiping out crops and displacing tens of thousands of people.

Across the country, millions of smallholder farmers are facing dwindling yields, high input costs, and worsening insecurity. Banditry and insurgent violence have made swathes of Nigeria’s northern farmlands inaccessible, while inflation and naira volatility have driven up the cost of fertilisers, diesel, and transportation.

According to the GHI data, 11.6 per cent of Nigerian children under five suffer from wasting — a condition indicating acute undernutrition, while 10.5 per cent of children die before reaching their fifth birthday. These statistics, experts warn, highlight the human cost of a policy environment unable to protect its most vulnerable citizens.

Economists say the hunger crisis is symptomatic of deeper macroeconomic fragilities. Despite Nigeria’s post-pandemic recovery, food inflation remains high, hovering near 35 per cent, as global commodity prices, a weakened naira, and domestic supply bottlenecks combine to keep staples such as rice, maize, and bread out of reach for millions.

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s attempt to rein in inflation through tighter monetary policy and managed exchange rate adjustments has done little to alleviate pressure on food prices. Meanwhile, rural communities, historically underserved by public infrastructure, have seen minimal relief from state or federal interventions.

Nigeria’s food system is also buckling under the intensifying effects of climate change. Extreme weather events from flash floods in the Niger Basin to prolonged dry spells in the North-East have disrupted traditional planting and harvest cycles.

Meteorological data show that rainfall patterns in 2025 were among the most erratic in a decade, devastating rice and maize production in central and southern regions. Analysts say climate adaptation policies remain underfunded and poorly coordinated between federal and state governments.

“The floods this year destroyed not only crops but entire seed stocks. We are entering the next planting season with no inputs, no credit, and no insurance,” said a farmer cooperative leader in Nasarawa State. 

While Nigeria has rolled out multiple agricultural interventions from the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme to the National Food Security Council, critics say weak coordination and poor monitoring have limited their impact.

Many of these schemes have been criticised for political interference, insufficient reach, and corruption. Agricultural credit penetration remains below 6 per cent, while public investment in irrigation, storage, and distribution infrastructure lags behind continental peers such as Egypt and Kenya.

Nigeria’s ranking places it as the second-worst performing country in West Africa, behind only Chad. The report warns that West Africa, long considered the breadbasket of sub-Saharan Africa, faces a looming food emergency driven by conflict, climate stress, and population growth outpacing agricultural productivity.

Across the Sahel, more than 48 million people are projected to face acute food insecurity by the end of 2025, according to regional estimates from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Deloitte’s West Africa Oil and Gas Outlook 2025, published earlier this year, also drew a link between insecurity in extractive regions and declining agricultural productivity, noting that rural displacement has contributed to declining local food supply and rising import bills.

The GHI authors urged Nigeria and other African nations to prioritise fiscal transparency in agricultural spending, incentivise private-sector investment, and strengthen regional food trade networks to cushion against supply shocks.

Experts also emphasised the importance of scaling up climate adaptation, crop insurance, and food storage systems to build resilience in the face of global disruptions.

“Development finance is under extreme stress globally. The humanitarian sector is struggling, and in some areas, hunger is persistent or even growing,” the report noted. “

For Nigeria, where over 90 million people already live in multidimensional poverty, the hunger data serves as a reminder of how economic and policy fragility translates into human suffering.

As global donors shift attention toward climate and energy transitions, analysts warn that Nigeria risks losing ground unless it prioritises domestic food production and rural infrastructure.