The Food and Agriculture Organization FAO has predicted that no fewer than 133.1 million Nigerians would face a global hunger crisis in 2025.

The FAO, in a statement said the report was prepared by the federal government and supported by partners, such as the World Food Programme, WFP, and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, among others.

The statement said that the food and nutrition insecurity analysis, Cadre Harmonisé, alerted on the deterioration of food security in Nigeria, with 133.1 million people expected to face high levels of food insecurity in the next lean season (June-August).

The report said that It is an alarming seven million people increase from the same period last year, driven by economic hardship, coupled with record high inflation, impacts of climate change and persistent violence in the northeastern states.

The report further intimated that Nationally, the number of people experiencing emergency levels (Phase 4) of food insecurity is projected to increase. While no populations have been classified as catastrophe (Phase 5), populations experiencing emergency (Phase 4) are anticipated to increase from 1 million people in the peak of the 2024 lean season to 1.8 million people at the same period in 2025, representing an 80 per cent increase.

Approximately 5.4 million children and nearly 800,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women are at risk of acute malnutrition or wasting from six of the most affected states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe in the northeast, as well as Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara in the northwest.

It said of these, an alarming 1.8 million children could face severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and require critical nutrition treatment.

According to the report, drivers of food security in Nigeria grapple with several factors that continue to exacerbate the food insecurity situation, namely economic hardship, coupled with record high inflation (which reached 40.9 per cent for food, and 34.2 per cent for all items in June 2024