The ADC has described the worsening hunger crisis affecting over 17 million Nigerians as a government-created humanitarian disaster, blaming insecurity, economic hardship and failed policies under President Bola Tinubu.
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of presiding over a worsening humanitarian crisis after a new United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) report showed that more than 17 million
Nigerians across nine conflict-affected northern states are facing acute hunger.
Reacting to the report, the opposition party described the food emergency as a “government-created humanitarian disaster,” saying the deepening crisis is the result of insecurity, policy failures and worsening economic hardship under the current administration. In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said the figures in the WFP assessment reflect the devastating human cost of what it called government incompetence, misplaced priorities and a failure to protect lives and livelihoods.
According to the WFP, over 17 million people in northern Nigeria are currently experiencing crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity, making it one of the country’s worst hunger emergencies in nearly a decade. The agency said the latest projection marks an increase of almost two million people from earlier estimates, with violence, mass displacement, shrinking access to farmland and reduced humanitarian access driving the deterioration. Borno State remains the worst-hit, with more than three million people acutely food insecure, while the combined total for Borno, Adamawa and Yobe has climbed to 6.2 million.
The ADC said the WFP findings confirm what millions of Nigerians are already experiencing daily — a food system under severe pressure and a cost-of-living crisis that has pushed basic meals beyond the reach of many households. The party blamed the Federal Government for failing to contain banditry and terrorism in farming communities, especially across northern Nigeria, where insecurity has repeatedly disrupted planting and harvest cycles. It also argued that economic decisions taken by the Tinubu administration have compounded the situation by driving up inflation and making food unaffordable for vulnerable families.
In its reaction, the opposition party said the growing number of Nigerians falling into severe hunger should not be treated as a routine statistic but as a national emergency requiring urgent and coordinated action. The ADC argued that the WFP report should force the government to confront the combined impact of insecurity, displacement, poor support for farmers and a harsh economic environment that has weakened purchasing power across the country. It maintained that the current crisis reflects years of policy neglect and a lack of decisive intervention in food-producing areas affected by violence.
The WFP also warned that the hunger crisis is worsening during the lean season, when food stocks are typically exhausted before the next harvest. The agency said it is facing severe funding constraints and can currently support fewer than half of the 1.3 million people it assisted last year in three northeastern states, despite 6.2 million people in the area being food insecure. It is seeking $89 million over the next six months to maintain food, nutrition and logistics support in northern Nigeria.
Beyond the political exchange, the latest hunger figures are likely to intensify pressure on the Federal Government to strengthen food security interventions, improve rural security and cushion the impact of inflation on poor households. Analysts say without a significant improvement in security conditions, stronger support for agricultural production and better-targeted relief for vulnerable communities, the food crisis could deepen further in the months ahead.
For the ADC, the message is clear: the hunger emergency now unfolding across northern Nigeria is not only a humanitarian issue but also a political indictment of the government’s handling of insecurity, agriculture and the wider economy.