Hunger crisis deepens as terrorist violence strips Nigerians of basic rights

Resurgent jihadist attacks and instability in northern Nigeria are driving hunger to unprecedented levels. Thousands face "famine-like conditions," the World Food Program (WFP) warned in its November 25 report.

Nearly 35 million people across the region are "projected to face severe food insecurity during the 2026 lean season". In the Borno state alone, about 15,000 people "are projected to reach catastrophic hunger".

Sixteen years of conflict have killed more than 40,000 people and displaced roughly two million.

Alongside Boko Haram and violent "bandit" gangs, analysts point to the growing threat from the al-Qaeda-affiliated group Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM).

They said civilians are being deprived of the basic right to life through forced displacement, loss of farmland, inflation, and shrinking foreign aid.

Ali Akbar Muhammadi, a London-based security analyst, described a slow suffocation of daily life.

"Families have been forced to abandon their homes and farmlands out of fear of attacks, which has cut off food production, emptied reserves, and intensified the cycle of hunger," he said.

"With inflation making food unaffordable, he said that "children and women are the first to be exposed to this vulnerability."

Muhammadi said shortages of clean water, reduced aid, and the closure of health centers have pushed communities into deeper hopelessness.

"Out of fear, people do not even dare to go to their farms, and this has rapidly expanded poverty and hunger," he said.

Islamic studies researcher Mawlawi Mohammad Zahir Muslim emphasized that while attacking groups claim they target only military sites, civilians bear the brunt.

"Kidnapping students, attacking places of worship, and threatening people who simply want to live a normal life bears no resemblance to Islamic principles and is, in fact, an open insult to religious values," he said.

Zahir said that justifying such acts through religion is "deceit and hypocrisy", especially when Muslims themselves are among the primary victims.

Worsening economic conditions for the poor

Nigeria’s long-standing economic crisis is now devastating the poorest families, said economist Abdul Rasool Khairkhwah.

"The sharp increase in prices has placed a heavy burden on families, leaving them with choices limited to taking food on credit or enduring hunger," he said.

Khairkhwah warned that the closure of nutrition centers is putting children at severe risk.

"People’s lives have become brutally entangled with insecurity and shortages of basic goods," he said.

Human rights researcher Muhammad Taher Qayumi stressed that fundamental rights -- including food, safety, and shelter -- have been stripped away by terrorist violence.

"The kidnapping of schoolgirls and targeting of schools not only harms education but also shatters social trust," he said.

Repeated attacks on civilians show "blatant hypocrisy toward Islamic values", he added.

Families face immense pressure, and children confront a bleak future, Qayumi said.