UN Agency Seeks $89 million To Feed 17 Million People Facing Acute Hunger In Northern Nigeria

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July 3, 2026

By Ayodele Oni

Banditry has taken a dangerous toll on Northern Nigeria as the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP) revealed that over 17 million people are now facing acute food insecurity.

It stated that conflict, funding cuts, and worsening access have pushed northern Nigeria into its worst hunger crisis in nearly a decade.

The latest Cadre Harmonisé analysis shows more than 17 million people across nine conflict-affected northern states are at crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of hunger.

That is an increase of nearly 2 million people from the previous assessment.

Borno State is the most affected. Renewed insurgent attacks and suspended food aid have left over 3 million people acutely food insecure

“Of them, 750,000 face severe hunger and 10,000+ are in catastrophic hunger — the highest level, often linked to famine-like conditions.

“What concerns us most is how this crisis is expanding,” said WFP’s Kinday Samba.

“For years, insurgent attacks were largely concentrated in the Northeast. Today, they are spreading across a much wider area and forcing people from farmland, driving displacement and restricting humanitarian access, meaning hunger is quick to follow.

WFP pointed out that the number of locations partially inaccessible to aid workers has doubled in recent months. An additional 15 areas are now difficult to reach due to insecurity.

“Attacks and illegal checkpoints are disrupting relief convoys. In several locations, air transport is now the only option.

“Funding shortages are compounding the crisis. Across the three insurgency-ravaged Northeast states, 6.2 million people are food insecure. But WFP currently has resources for only 740,000 people.

“That leaves about 5.5 million people, many of them women and children, without food and nutrition support. This is down sharply from the 1.3 million WFP assisted during the peak of the 2025 lean season.”

The agency stated that aid suspensions in displacement camps are pushing families toward dangerous coping strategies, including joining armed groups for food or income. It also flagged rising exploitation and gender-based violence against women and children.

“When people lose access to food, the risks of displacement, exploitation and instability increase. Yet resources are at their lowest at the time they are needed most,” Samba said.

The report revealed that Nigeria’s food crisis extends beyond the North. 36.2 million people nationwide are now food insecure, driven by insecurity, inflation, climate shocks, and economic pressure.

WFP warned that without urgent action, hunger, displacement, and instability could worsen in northern Nigeria and spill into neighbouring countries.

To sustain emergency food, nutrition, and logistics for the next six months, WFP said it urgently needs $89 million in additional funding

Reforms Difficult But Necessary – President Tinubu

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Ayodele Oni

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July 3, 2026

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By Ayodele Oni

President Bola Tinubu has admitted that Nigeria is presently undergoing one of the most ambitious periods of reforms in its history.

He however maintained that the reforms, though difficult, are necessary undertaken by the administration and are yielding results.

The president spoke Thursday at the maiden dinner for State House Correspondents in Abuja.

Listing results of the reforms, Tinubu stated that “Our economy is stabilising. Public revenues have strengthened significantly. State governments are receiving substantially higher allocations to support development. Investor confidence is returning.

“Our foreign reserves have improved considerably. The oil and gas sector is attracting renewed investment. The stock market has witnessed remarkable growth.

“Key economic indicators are moving in the right direction. Through tax reforms, fiscal reforms, infrastructure investments, and improvements in the business environment, we are laying the foundations for a more competitive, productive, and prosperous economy.

“The journey is not yet complete. Challenges remain. But the direction is clear, and the foundations for long-term growth are being firmly established.”

Regarding security, he said that “our administration has maintained a determined, multi-dimensional approach.

“Military operations have intensified across several theatres. Intelligence gathering has improved. Inter-agency collaboration has strengthened. Regional and international cooperation has expanded.

“As a result, thousands of criminal elements and terrorists have been neutralised. Numerous hostages have been rescued.

“Communities previously under threat have been reclaimed.

Security agencies continue to demonstrate courage and professionalism in confronting terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, oil theft, and other forms of criminality.

“While Nigeria continues to face security challenges, we have moved steadily from reacting to threats toward systematically degrading them.

“We remain resolute in our commitment to securing every part of our country and ensuring that every Nigerian can live, work, and prosper in peace.”

President Tinubu assured the media that laws such as cybercrime act and others are not intended to gag the press.

“The media space is no longer an unregulated frontier. Nigeria has enacted laws, including the Cybercrimes Act and other relevant legislation, to protect citizens from malicious falsehoods, cyberstalking, identity theft, and other abuses that increasingly accompany the digital age.

“These safeguards are not intended to weaken press freedom. Rather, they exist to protect citizens and preserve the integrity of our information ecosystem.”

He charged media practitioners to be partners, stressing that “Democracy is stymied without a free press. The fourth estate of the realm must be a free estate, and not a fief.

“However, where there is enormous power, there should be accountability and responsibility. The ethics of the profession must be considered sacred and upheld by practitioners.

“The recurring incidents of misinformation, disinformation, fake news, voice and facial cloning and deep fakes are concerning.

“These are the drawbacks of the social media age. Media practitioners should not be willing couriers of falsehood or unverified information injurious to national security and the nation.”

NASS Demanded N200m “Bribe” To Pass Ministry’s Budget

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James Orji

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July 3, 2026

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Solomon Dalung, a former Minister of Sports has revealed that the National Assembly demanded to pay a bribe of N200 million to pass the Budget of the Ministry of Sports when he served undet the Muhammadu Buhari’s adminstration. His refusasl to pay the alleged bribe may have led to his ouster from the adminsitration, the former minister said.

The former minister was among those not re-appointed after the late President Buhari won a reelection, despite Dalung’s pressumed closeness to the former Nigerian leader. At the time, political analsyst had opined that the fromer minsiter from Plateau state fell out of power due to the intrigues among the inner circle of the Buhari’s adminsitration.

Some also adduced his fall from power to his refusal to play ball with members of the National Assembly.

Dalung spoke on Channels TV programme Sunshine Daily on Friday, saying the Committees of Sports in NASS demanded the bribe whenever the officials of the ministry went to the Assembly to defend its budget.

According to him, the lawmakers had insisted that he pay them the bribe so that his ministry budget will be passed, and whenever he resistedm he was told that he could ‘not pretend” because other ministers had paid bribe for their budgets to be passed.

The revelation, according to not a few people watching the nation’s National Assembly, has exposed the deepseated corrution among lawmakers in the country, particularly undet the admnistration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu which has been accused of paying lip service to fighting graft in the country.

The 10^th National Assembly has come under trenchatnt criticism from not a few Nigerians, who accused its members of being corrupt, and acting in a manner that suggest that they are lap-dog of the Presidency, which has also been under close scrutiny from the publci for allegedly aiding corruption.

For instance, the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila is currently enmessed in an alleged corruption case invloving Adeniyi Matthew, the embattled Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council/Presidential Economic Advisory Council.

Gbajabiamila and Matthew are currently in court to clear their names on allegations bordering on forgery and bribery.

The controversy starterd last year after Matthew was arresetd by the police following a pettion by the president’s chief of staff who accused him of forging his appointment letter, deccribing him as a serial fraudster.

Matthew had fired back accusing Gbajabiamila of sending police after him after a deal between them broke down. The alleged deal, according to Matthew, is that he paid N400 million out of the agreed N600 million to the former Spekaer of the Hosue of Representatives, to secure the appointment, thoruh a proxy that has now died.

His refusal to pay the balance made him fell out with the embattled Chief of Staff, he stated.

He also accused Gbajabiamila of demanding 48 percent of the N27.4 bn take-off grant purportedly approved as the yearly budget for the agency.

In its reaction to the alleagtion, the Presidency has described the agency as ficticious, saying Matthew was opearting a non-existen agency.

The Presidency has also cleared Gbajabiamila of the alleagtions, in a letter issued on Wednesday by President Tinubu’s spokesperosn, Bayo Onanuga.

Meanwhile, Not a few Nigerians are calling out the Presidency over the issue, saying the allegations against Gbajabiamila are too strong to be swept under the carpet., calling for an independent probe of the matter.