Updated - Nigeria: Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe (BAY) states - Situation Report, 4 December 2025

This report is produced by OCHA Nigeria in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It was issued on 3 December 2025. The next report will be issued on or around 5 January 2026.

Highlights

  • Malnutrition levels projected to worsen across the BAY states in the 2026 lean season.
  • Increased insurgent attacks drive sharp spike in hunger.
  • Increased insecurity incidents recorded in Borno State.
  • Anticipatory action workshop in Adamawa State discusses lessons learned and the way forward.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

Malnutrition levels projected to worsen across the BAY states in the 2026 lean season

The results of the latest integrated food security phase classification (IPC) for acute malnutrition (the five-phase scale system used to classify the severity of acute malnutrition among children in different geographical areas) project a severe deterioration in the malnutrition crisis, now entering its sixth consecutive year, in the BAY states.

The IPC analysis notes that at least 51 of the 62 local government areas (LGAs) analysed in the BAY states are projected to face serious or critical malnutrition (IPC AMN Phase 3+) during the 2026 lean season. This is compared to 31 LGAs in the 2024 lean season. The number of LGAs projected to face critical (IPC AMN Phase 4) levels of malnutrition is also projected to rise to 20 in 2026, up from 10 in 2024.

A combination of factors have fuelled the continued increase in malnutrition across the BAY states. Ongoing insurgency and the resurgence of displacement and protection incidents, especially in hotspot LGAs across the BAY states, continue to disrupt food production due to limited access to farmland and humanitarian aid assistance. In addition, poor hygiene practices, limited understanding of healthy feeding practices, poverty, high fertility rates, early childbirth, and lack of access to maternal and child health services contribute to malnutrition. Northern Nigeria has some of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the country, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). The number of women who die from pregnancy-related complications in north-east Nigeria, which includes the BAY States, is 1,848 for every 100,000 babies born. This is the second highest in the country, after the north-west region.

These factors have been compounded by heavy rains and seasonal flash floods, which reduce the harvest at the end of the single planting season. Floods also lead to the outbreak of diseases like cholera and malaria, which further weaken the already compromised immune systems of malnourished children. This makes it harder for sick children to recover and puts them at risk of dying.

In addition, limited humanitarian access, economic hardship, as well as limited access to health services have worsened the situation.