Nigeria Appeal

Two million people remain displaced internally in northeast Nigeria (Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states) due to armed conflict ongoing since 2009; 514,490 are displaced in the northwest (Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara states) due to armed violence; and 401,403 are displaced in Benue State in the north-central region due to farmer-herder violence. Benue is hosting the second-highest number of internally displaced persons, after Borno. Sixty per cent of internally displaced persons are children. In the northeast, 41 per cent of all those displaced live in camps, compared with 11 per cent in the northwest and 34 per cent in Benue State.

Borno State alone hosts 1.7 million internally displaced persons, with 924,000 (54 per cent) living in 250 camps. 14 In 2021–2022, 160,000 internally displaced persons were relocated. None were relocated in 2023 and only 10,000 relocated in 2024. Relocations to areas outside garrison towns lack essential services and face increased security threats. 

Some areas in the northwest are marked by the absence of government, resulting in lack of education and health care. Armed banditry is rampant across the northwest, and it is particularly aimed at the control of natural resources, including the gold mines in Zamfara. In late 2023, a new non-state armed group, Lakurawa, emerged, posing new threats in Sokoto State.

Nearly 5.4 million children in northwest and northeast Nigeria will likely suffer from acute malnutrition through 2025, including 1.8 million with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and 3.6 million with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM). The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification analysis highlights worsening malnutrition in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states, driving a 27 per cent increase in the number of people in need and doubling severe wasting cases.

While Nigeria was declared free from wild polio in 2020, vaccine-derived polio is rapidly spreading in northern Nigeria and in neighbouring countries. Due to the 2.2 million unvaccinated children in Nigeria, and the weak sanitation system, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases (measles, diphtheria and meningitis) and cholera continue in the country's north and south. 

Around1.9 million children in Nigeria face protection risks, including violence, child labour, child marriage, abuse, neglect, exploitation, sexual violence, psychosocial distress and recruitment by non-state armed groups. 

Floods occur regularly, due to overflow of the Niger and Benue rivers in north-central Nigeria, and to poor dam operations/management (e.g., flooding in Maiduguri, Borno State in 2024).

This appeal covers eight states, with a primary focus on Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states in the northeast and Sokoto, Zamfara, and Katsina states in the northwest, but also including limited humanitarian action in Benue and Jigawa states in north-central Nigeria. 

UNICEF will aim to secure treatment for severely wasted children living in areas affected by conflict or armed violence, or in areas hosting internally displaced persons. Costs of treating severe wasting constitute 60 per cent of this appeal. In addition, UNICEF will aim to provide a limited health, WASH and child protection response to displaced people in Benue State, as well as gender responsive flood-related preparedness work in Jigawa State. Beyond these protracted emergencies, responses will be directed to other states in the event of sudden-onset emergencies related to infectious disease outbreaks, floods or armed violence. 

UNICEF’s appeal for resources for the northeast supports the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan. Depending on availability of funding, UNICEF serves as provider of last resort in nutrition, WASH, education and child protection in the northeast. In coordination with the Inter-Sector Coordination Group, UNICEF and four local and three international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) will deploy the Rapid Response Mechanism to hard-to-reach areas where there are no sector partners, or where those partners are overstretched.

In the protracted situations of violence and conflict, as in areas affected by infectious disease outbreaks and floods, UNICEF will deliver assistance to those that need it most – women, children and adolescents – based on evidence-based needs assessments. UNICEF will coordinate with relevant authorities, other United Nations agencies and local and international NGOs. The multisectoral response will deploy an integrated package of interventions in prioritized locations (including nutrition; WASH facilities in primary health care centres; integrated WASH and social and behaviour change responses to infectious disease outbreaks and flooding; and integrated education/protection interventions to meet needs related to abductions of students or attacks against schools and health facilities). Protection from sexual exploitation and abuse will remain central to all interventions. 

Throughout its response, UNICEF will enhance localization, advance gender-responsive and adolescent programming, integrate people living with disabilities and strengthen intersectoral coordination for an effective, life-saving response. 

UNICEF’s humanitarian–development–peace nexus approach is based on a 2024 risk analysis on conflict, violence, floods and epidemics. Emergency preparedness will be strengthened via standard operating procedures, contingency partnerships, supply pre-positioning and community engagement to enhance accountability and response.