WFP: Recent Surge in Insecurity Driving Hunger to Level Never Before in Nigeria

By: Michael Mike

Growing instability across northern Nigeria, including a surge in attacks, is driving hunger to levels never seen before, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.

The warning follows the release of the latest Cadre Harmonisé, a regional food security analysis that classifies the severity of hunger, which found that nearly 35 million people are projected to face severe food insecurity during the 2026 lean season, the highest number recorded in Nigeria.

WFP, in a statement on Tuesday, said attacks by insurgent groups in Nigeria have intensified throughout 2025. Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, reportedly carried out its first attack in Nigeria last month.

Meanwhile, the insurgent group Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) is said to be pursuing its expansion across the Sahel. Other recent incidents include the killing of a brigadier soldier in the northeast and attacks on public schools in the north, where several teachers and hundreds of schoolgirls remain missing.

“Communities are under severe pressure from repeated attacks and economic stress,” said David Stevenson, WFP Country Director and Representative in Nigeria.

He said: “If we can’t keep families fed and food insecurity at bay, growing desperation could fuel increased instability with insurgent groups exploiting hunger to expand their influence, creating a security threat that extends across West Africa and beyond.”

The statement lamented that Northern Nigeria is experiencing the most severe hunger crisis in a decade with rural farming communities the hardest hit. Nearly six million people in the north are projected to face crisis levels of hunger or worse during the 2026 lean season – June to August – in the conflict zones of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.

It added this includes some 15,000 people in Borno State who are expected to confront catastrophic hunger (Phase 5, famine-like conditions). Children are at greatest risk across Borno, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, where malnutrition rates are highest.

It said the dire situation has been compounded by funding shortfalls that diminish WFP’s ability to provide life-saving assistance. In the northeast – where nearly one million people depend on WFP’s food and nutrition assistance – WFP was forced to scale down nutrition programmes in July, affecting more than 300,000 children. In areas where clinics closed, malnutrition levels deteriorated from “serious” to “critical” in the third quarter of the year.

It however assured that despite soaring needs, WFP will run out of resources for emergency food and nutrition assistance in December. Without urgent funding, millions will be left without vital support in 2026, risking more instability and deepening a crisis that the world cannot afford to ignore.

WFP: Recent Surge in Insecurity Driving Hunger to Level Never Before in Nigeria

ActionAid Laments the Use of Social Media to Silence Women and Girls in Nigeria

By: Michael Mike

ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has decried that social media and digital platforms intended to empower, are increasingly exploited to harass, stalk, and silence women and girls. In Nigeria.

AAN in a statement on Tuesday to commemorate the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence with the theme, “UNiTE to End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls.” signed by its Country Director, Dr. Andrew Mamedu lamented that digital threat compounds the physical dangers girls face in schools amid rising insecurity, creating a dual crisis that demands immediate and collective action.

Mamedu said: “ActionAid Nigeria has long championed safe spaces for women and girls through initiatives such as our Safe Cities project, Women’s Voice and Leadership Nigeria project, the Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership project, Local Rights Programme and community-based GBV response programs across 21 states and the FCT. In a nation where one in four girls experience sexual violence before the age of 18, the combination of physical and online threats is a crisis that deprives our girls of safety, education, and their future.

“We UNiTE today to break this cycle, fortifying schools against physical violence and abduction, while safeguarding digital spaces from virtual predators.”

He lamented that Nigeria’s education system, intended to be a safe environment for learning, is increasingly under threat. The abduction of 25 students and the killing of a vice-principal at Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Kebbi State, underscores the fear gripping many northern communities.

He further decried that across the country, schools in Kwara, Niger, Plateau, Bauchi, Kebbi, and 41 Unity schools have closed due to insecurity, forcing children out of classrooms. UNICEF reports that 60% of out-of-school children in northern Nigeria are girls, a figure likely to rise as insecurity persists. Survivors of abductions are often subjected to sexual and domestic slavery, while perpetrators extend their threats online, amplifying fear and intimidation.

He noted that Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence in Nigeria takes many forms, including cyberstalking, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, deepfakes, doxxing, sextortion, and persistent online harassment, insisting that these abuses isolate and shame women and girls, disrupting their education, work, and social participation.

A 2024 UNFPA report indicates that between 16% and 58% of women and girls worldwide experience TFGBV, with Nigeria recording over 6,000 GBV cases in the first five months of 2024 alone.

He said Tech-enabled abuse has real and tangible impacts, particularly on women and girls already marginalised by factors such as ethnicity, disability, or geography. Reports from organisations including Hivos and the Development Research and Projects Centre (dRPC) show that TFGBV intensifies trauma, suppresses voices, and perpetuates cycles of poverty.

H noted that ActionAid Nigeria, alongside women’s rights organisations, survivors, and communities across the country, calls on the Federal Government, State Governments, the National Assembly, law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, and international partners to urgently take the following actions:

Domesticate and implement the African Commission Resolution 522 (2023) on protection from internet-based violence; Arrest and prosecute perpetrators of school abductions to reduce insecurity in educational institutions; Establish a National Task Force on Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence to coordinate prevention and response efforts; Allocate specific budget lines for the digital safety of women and girls in the 2026 appropriation; Strengthen survivor-centred reporting and justice mechanisms for both physical and online gender-based violence.

ActionAid Nigeria called on all Nigerians to recognize that the safety of women and girls is the responsibility of every individual, community, and institution, stressing that together, we must act decisively to ensure every girl can learn, live, and thrive free from fear, both online and offline.

ActionAid Laments the Use of Social Media to Silence Women and Girls in Nigeria

KGIRS tasks Assembly on domestication of Nigeria Tax Administration Act

By our reporter

Kogi State Internal Revenue Services (KGIRS) has called on the State House of Assembly to domesticate the Nigeria Tax Act and Tax Administration Act, for easy implementation in the state.

The Executive Chairman of the Service Dr Salihu Enehe who led his team to the Assembly Complex in Lokoja on an enlightenment campaign said the meeting with the Assembly was quite imperative.

He described the Nigerian Tax Act as a compressed compendium of various tax laws hitherto operating in the country into a single document with a view to addressing issues of multiple taxation and promotion of transparency in tax administration in the country.

He commended President Bola Tinubu for taking the bold step by embarking on the tax reforms to enable harmony in the fiscal ecosystem.

Enehe said that implementation of the new tax laws, scheduled to take effect from January, 2026, would enhance transparency in administration and transactions, investments and proffer measures against tax evasions.

“On 26th of June this year, the President of the Republic of Nigeria signed four laws, and these four laws have caused disruptions going forward into the future, in terms of tax and Administration”.

“With these disruptions come a great opportunity and great threat. A great opportunity for those who are ready and prepared to abide and adhere to the laws but a great threat for those who want to remain in the past and resistant to change.” He stressed.

According to him, the four laws include the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Joint Revenue Board Establishment Act, and the Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Act.

He noted that implementation of the Nigeria Tax Act and the Nigeria Tax Administration Act operational at states level would be fair to low income earners, reduction for middle level and tough on high income earners.

The Executive Chairman pointed out that under the new tax laws, which would be operational from January, 2026, people earning gross annual income of less than N1.3 million would be exempted from tax while middle level earners of between N1.3 million and N3 million would have their taxes reduced.

He further explained that higher gross annual income above N3 million, would attract higher taxes meaning that “Big men” and business organisations would pay more.

A Consultant with the KGIRS, Barrister Henry Ojuola in his remark, urged the House not to bother with making new laws on the matter even though the Acts provides that they could domesticate by enacting and implementing.

Barrister Ojuola, a former member of the Assembly however advised the Assembly and the Service to rely on the Acts in their implementation adding that Chapter 5 of the Tax Administration Act has specified many offences as well as punishments for the Tax Tribunal to handle.

He advised the house to “Ensure your Tax Tribunal is effective by ensuring that Unpurchaseable persons” are members adding that the people you send to collect taxes are not dishonest Nigerians’, the legal Practitioner advised.

In his closing remarks, Chairman of the House standing Committee on Finance, Hon. Akus Lawal appreciate the KGIRS Chairman and his team for initiating the engagement.

The Lawmaker expressed optimism that in no time Kogi would be rated as the number three state among the 19 Northern states after Kano, Kaduna, Kogi State and the number one in North-Central in terms of Internally Generated Revenue drive.

Hon. Lawal, representing Ankpa I Constituency, said the legislators were now better informed on the issue of revenue and tax administration in Nigeria and are looking forward to receiving the tax laws to “do the needful”

KGIRS tasks Assembly on domestication of Nigeria Tax Administration Act