Nigeria is sliding into a worsening humanitarian catastrophe, with millions of citizens trapped between the twin emergencies of hunger and devastating floods, Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Tanko Sununu, has warned.
Speaking on Monday at the inauguration of the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee on Flood Management and Response, Sununu painted a grim picture of the nation’s crisis, noting that over three million Nigerians remain internally displaced by floods, insecurity, and other disasters. He cautioned that shrinking international aid threatens to push millions more into extreme hunger.
“Globally, humanitarian funding is shrinking, and Nigeria is not exempt,” Sununu said. “Just a few days ago, the World Food Programme suspended some of its activities, which had supported more than 1.2 million Nigerians in the North-east. This leaves over 300,000 children at risk of malnutrition, while more than 200,000 are already receiving treatment.”
Citing United Nations estimates, the minister revealed that over 24.8 million Nigerians have battled hunger in recent years, while poverty remains heavily skewed towards the North, which accounts for 65 percent of the nation’s poor population—most of them smallholder farmers devastated by recurrent floods and droughts.
He warned that unless urgent interventions are scaled up, Nigeria could face an even deeper food and nutrition emergency.
Federal Government’s Response
Sununu highlighted the Federal Government’s ongoing interventions through the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), including conditional cash transfers and interest-free loans for smallholder farmers.
According to him, over 5.9 million households—representing 25 million Nigerians—have benefited from ₦419 billion in conditional cash transfers, while farmers have accessed ₦300,000 loans under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) to rebuild livelihoods.
“These efforts are part of President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to ensuring Nigerians maintain dignity of life despite economic challenges,” Sununu said, pledging closer collaboration with the legislature to protect vulnerable families.
Flooding: A National Emergency
Chairman of the committee, Hon. Maidala Balami, described flooding as a “national emergency” that requires urgent, coordinated, and strategic responses.
“Each year, lives are lost, properties destroyed, livelihoods disrupted, and the socio-economic fabric of entire communities severely affected,” Balami said. “The time for piecemeal approaches is over. What we need is a comprehensive national framework—one that encompasses prevention, early warning systems, emergency response, community resilience, infrastructure development, and climate adaptation strategies.”
House Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, represented by the House Leader Julius Ihonvbere, charged the committee to move Nigeria from reactive disaster management to preventive strategies, stressing the need for synergy among agencies such as NEMA, the Ministries of Environment, Water Resources, Health, Works and Housing, as well as the Nigerian Space Agency for satellite-based flood mapping.
Recent disasters underline the urgency. In May, torrential rains triggered the worst flooding in decades in Mokwa, Niger State, killing more than 500 people, leaving over 600 missing, and injuring 121 others.
Earlier in August, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported that floods had killed 165 people, left 82 missing, displaced nearly 44,000 individuals, damaged over 8,500 homes, and destroyed 8,278 farmlands across 19 states.
The Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has since warned that 1,249 communities across 176 local government areas in 30 states and the FCT face high flood risk this year, while an additional 2,187 communities are at moderate risk.
The Way Forward
As hunger and floods collide, lawmakers and the executive face growing pressure to act decisively. With donor funding dwindling and climate change amplifying Nigeria’s vulnerabilities, only a coordinated, well-resourced, and forward-looking strategy can avert an even deeper humanitarian tragedy.
PIONEER NEWS 