The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has issued a stark warning that unless urgent measures are taken, 420,000 Nigerian children could die this year from severe acute malnutrition.
Nigeria’s UNICEF Country Representative, Wafaa Elfadil Saheed Abdulateef, gave the warning on Thursday during her visit to the agency’s Maiduguri Field Office.
She stated that Nigeria has 15 million malnourished children under five, and 3.5 million at risk of severe acute malnutrition. Of the 3.5 million at risk, 420,000 children could die in 2025 alone if nothing changes. She emphasize that Forty percent of under-fives are stunted—children who will never reach their full physical or cognitive potential if we do not act now.
Abdulateef stressed that Nigeria risks losing hundreds of thousands of children to hunger, preventable diseases, and poor care unless resources are mobilised quickly. She said UNICEF urgently requires more funding, locally produced food solutions, and expanded treatment centres to prevent malnutrition-related deaths.
She added that the Northeast remains under a deep humanitarian crisis, with more than 4.5 million people in desperate need of assistance.
The UNICEF chief also linked Nigeria’s malnutrition challenge to an ongoing education crisis, noting that 18.3 million Nigerian children are currently out of school — 10.2 million at primary school age and 8.1 million at junior secondary school age.
On immunisation, Abdulateef revealed that Nigeria has over 2.1 million “zero-dose” children — the highest in the world. “Nearly one in three one-year-olds has never received a single vaccine, leaving them vulnerable to deadly but preventable outbreaks such as measles, diphtheria, meningitis, and polioviruses,” she said.
She further emphasised that school enrollment and retention are vital to delay early marriage and empower girls to make informed decisions about their health and families.
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