34.8m Hungry Nigerians: The Muted Disaster that Should Shape 2027 Elections

Chineme Okafor

The number of Nigerians facing acute food insecurity in 2026 ought to be central in the 2027 elections discourse, in particular, the presidential debates. The implications of this are far-reaching for Nigeria’s corporate wellbeing; and thus, reckless to pretend about it going into the elections.

As we already know, somewhere in Jada, Adamawa, a farmer has since abandoned his fields because of sustained insecurity in the Nort-east. In Olowogbowo Isale eko Lagos, a mother now skips meals so her children can eat. Likewise, a trader in Otu-Nkwo Eze (Main Market) Onitsha in Anambra helplessly watches food prices rise faster than her disposable income.

These are not fabrications, but the realities most Nigerians live with today. These descriptions capture how conflict, inflation and climate shocks are converging into one of Nigeria’s worst food crises in decades. But the country’s political elites would want this ignored for absurdities in the coming elections.

When the Food and Agriculture Organisation of (FAO) and United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations (UN) said in its June 2026 Hunger Hotspots report, that an estimated 34.8 million Nigerians face or are already facing high levels of food insecurity from the second half of 2026, the reality of the report and warning was incredible. What does 34.8 million hungry people really look like or even mean?

To understand the scale of this, and mindful of illogical quantification, I considered that Norway’s entire population is about 5.5 million people. The number of Nigerians facing food insecurity is therefore equivalent to more than six Norways in population. Put differently, it is in fact larger than the entire populations of Norway (5.5 million), Denmark (6 million), Finland (5.6 million), Ireland (5.5 million) and Switzerland (9 million) combined. This is staggering!

At 34.8 million, if the food-insecure Nigerians formed a country, it would have a population larger than many European nations and would rank among the world’s top 45 most populous states, competing with the likes of Peru (34.9 million), Malaysia (34.4 million) and Ghana (35.7 million). So, why is this not in the front-end of debates leading to Nigeria’s 2027 elections, in particular, the presidential race?

No snubbing this profound crisis

The socio-economic consequences of a hungry population are far-reaching and should define political debates anytime, let alone in general election periods. Any country that is unable or failing to feed 34.8 million of its circa 220 million population according to World Bank estimated figures, is simply and squarely grooming socio-economic crisis. Likewise, any government superintending this has flopped in governance – no beating around the bush.

FAO and WFP work to combat global hunger through emergency food assistance, food security, nutrition improvement, sustainable agriculture and resilience building. They’ve concretely informed that alongside Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen and Palestine – the world’s most critical hunger hotspots in terms of severity and magnitude, “Nigeria has also moved into the highest-concern group, where around 34.8 million people are projected to face high levels of acute food insecurity (Cadre Harmonisé Phase 3 or above) during June-August 2026, including 1.8 million in Emergency (CH Phase 4) and some 15,000 in Catastrophe (CH Phase 5) in Borno State.”

In fact, both UN agencies explained that Nigerians in Borno risked ‘Catastrophe’ levels of acute food insecurity, defining this as an extreme lack of food and other basic needs, with starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels manifesting during this period. Armed conflicts, economic inflation and climate shocks were primary drivers of this in Nigeria.

Unlike the countries in the FAO-WFP Hunger Hotspots report who are facing famine conditions caused primarily by war, Nigeria possesses enormous agricultural potential. The challenge is less about the absence of arable land and more about the interplay of insecurity, economic instability and weak climate change resilience infrastructure.

No country thoughtful about inclusive growth should snub the socio-economic consequences of a hungry population; they are far-reaching. They include reduced productivity, since hungry workers are less productive. Basic medical insights indicate that malnutrition affects physical strength, concentration and overall productivity. In agriculture-dependent communities for example, this creates a vicious cycle: hunger reduces output, which in turn worsens food shortages and poverty. The insecurity experienced in farming communities means that Nigeria has a double whammy of hungry and vulnerable farming population.

There is also the often-understated impact of hunger on education. Children who suffer malnutrition are more likely to perform poorly in school, miss classes or even drop out of their studies entirely. The long-term consequence of this is a reduction in quality human capital and future economic growth. Already the 2025 Global Hunger Index on Nigeria shows how poorly the country is doing, with 11.6 per cent of her children under five years acutely undernourished, while 33.8 per cent of under five years are stunted from chronic undernutrition. These elites must think long-term on how severe hunger today chips away Nigeria’s future human capital.

Moreover, food insecurity can fuel more recruitment into criminal gangs, insurgent movements and armed groups, particularly among unemployed young people with few economic opportunities. we cannot frankly detach the insecurity siege in Nigeria from how hungry her population are today. Urban centres like Lagos, Abuja, Enugu are feeling the brunt of families kicked out of their farms by armed non-state actors, and who have migrated for survival.

A clear governance failure

Data on food inflation, poverty, household expenditure and petrol prices from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) suggest hunger has become not only an agricultural issue but also a purchasing power issue. 34.8 million food-insecure Nigerians is more than a humanitarian figure; it is a political and economic failure. It represents a generation of children at risk of malnutrition and waste, and millions of our people whose daily concern is no longer prosperity but survival.

As Nigeria heads towards the 2027 presidential election, food security has to be a key test of governance. Every Nigerian eligible to vote in 2027 have to ask the questions that matter most: Why has food inflation remained high in Nigeria? Have fuel subsidy reforms worsened food affordability for Nigerians? What progress has been made in restoring security to farming communities across Nigeria? And are climate adaptation policies reaching vulnerable farmers?

Voters owe this to the 34.8 million food-insecure countrymen. Voters have to judge those putting themselves forward for election on the questions that matter, not by campaign rhetoric. For the candidates, the question is frank: how will they make food affordable, farms safe and hunger less common in Africa’s largest nation?