EU says 35m Nigerians need emergency food aid, offers €33m grant

The European Commission on Wednesday announced a €235 million humanitarian aid package for West and Central Africa, with Nigeria as one of the recipients amid a deepening food and nutrition crisis.

Of the total funding, €33 million has been allocated to Nigeria, targeting life-saving health and nutrition interventions in the conflict-affected North-East and increasingly fragile North-West regions. The support will focus on areas where basic services have collapsed, and malnutrition levels have crossed emergency thresholds.

The scale of need is stark. Nearly 35 million Nigerians require emergency food assistance, while 6.4 million children are acutely malnourished, including about 2 million facing life-threatening conditions, according to EU estimates.

The funding will go beyond food aid, covering protection services, education in emergencies, and water, sanitation and hygiene, critical in regions where displacement and insecurity have disrupted livelihoods and access to basic care.

Nigeria’s allocation reflects the country’s growing humanitarian burden, driven by a mix of insurgency, banditry, economic strain, and climate-related shocks. Despite being Africa’s largest economy, the country is grappling with one of its most severe food crises in recent years, underscoring the widening gap between macroeconomic reforms and on-the-ground living conditions.

Across the broader region, the EU’s intervention highlights a widening arc of instability stretching from the Sahel to coastal West Africa.

In the Central Sahel, €75 million will support over 12 million people in need of assistance, focusing on emergency food aid, healthcare, and protection services in conflict-hit and hard-to-reach areas.

Chad will receive more than €72 million to address the influx of refugees fleeing the Sudan crisis, while Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Mauritania will receive smaller allocations targeting displaced populations and vulnerable communities.

An additional €6 million is earmarked for coastal countries including Benin, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo, where insecurity is driving new displacement pressures.

EU officials say the funding is intended to address overlapping crises—conflict, hunger, and climate shocks—that continue to strain already fragile systems across the region.

Hadja Lahbib, the EU’s Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, described the situation as a “storm of humanitarian crises,” noting that for millions, aid remains the difference between survival and destitution.

For Nigeria, the funding offers temporary relief, but also highlights a deeper structural challenge: how to reconcile sweeping economic reforms with a rapidly expanding humanitarian crisis at home.