JOHANNESBURG — The United States has approved an exceptional $32.5 million (approximately ₩45 billion) in humanitarian aid for Nigeria, a move signaling a notable policy shift under the second Trump administration. This funding, announced by the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, is designated for crucial food and nutritional assistance to internally displaced persons in the nation's restive northern regions.

The U.S. Ambassador's statement confirmed that 764,205 people will benefit from the assistance, including over 41,000 pregnant and lactating women and girls, and 43,000 children, in the northeastern and northwestern parts of the country.

The decision comes after the World Food Programme (WFP) issued a dire warning in July that instability and a critical funding shortfall were plunging northern Nigeria into an unprecedented hunger crisis, with more than 1.3 million people facing acute food shortages. The WFP had previously relied on the U.S. for 45% of its aid to Nigeria and had cautioned that vulnerable populations would be forced to migrate in search of sustenance and shelter if new funds were not secured.

The humanitarian situation is a direct result of a prolonged and escalating conflict. Since 2009, the region has been destabilized by Islamic extremist groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Their recent intensified offensives have only worsened the security and humanitarian crises. The United Nations estimates that the 16-year conflict has claimed more than 35,000 lives and displaced roughly two million people in the northeast alone, making the approved U.S. assistance a desperately needed lifeline for a vulnerable population.

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