Nigeria

A mother participates in USAID-funded program in northeastern Nigeria.

Chris Pratt/USAID

Key Developments

Major organized armed group attacks on population centers in northeastern Nigeria—including Borno State’s Damasak town and Yobe State’s Geidam town—have displaced hundreds of thousands of people since late March. 

Intercommunal violence and organized criminal group activity continue to drive displacement and exacerbate needs in northwest Nigeria.

Approximately 12.8 million people will require emergency food assistance during the June-to-August lean season, representing a significant deterioration of food security in Nigeria compared with 2020

On March 29, U.S. Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard declared a disaster for the complex emergency in northwestern Nigeria.  In response, USAID/BHA staff in Abuja, Nigeria, and Washington, D.C., are coordinating with humanitarian partners and the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria to assess the needs of conflict-affected populations and scale up critical humanitarian services in the region, including emergency food assistance. 

USAID is also responding to the complex emergency in the Lake Chad Basin region, including areas of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.

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Background

Continued Boko Haram- and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-West Africa-related insecurity has resulted in population displacement, disrupted livelihoods, food insecurity, and protection concerns in northeastern Nigeria—primarily Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states—since 2015. Insecurity continues to restrict access to basic services, and both displaced people and vulnerable host communities are in need of emergency food assistance, safe drinking water, relief commodities, as well as health, nutrition, protection, shelter, and water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions. The majority of internally displaced persons in northeastern Nigeria continue to reside in host communities and camps, straining local resources and exacerbating needs among displaced and host populations. On October 3, 2019, Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., Kathleen FitzGibbon redeclared a disaster for FY 2020 due to the ongoing complex emergency in Nigeria.