By Muhammad Mamman
The United Nations has been forced to suspend its fixed-wing humanitarian air service in Nigeria, citing a severe funding shortfall that threatens to deepen the country’s humanitarian crisis.
The UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), operated by the World Food Programme (WFP), ended operations last week after nine years of ferrying aid workers, medical supplies and critical cargo to conflict-hit Borno and Yobe states.
“For nine years, the service has been a lifeline, transporting humanitarian staff and essential supplies into the epicentre of the crisis,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters in New York. “In a country that has endured 16 years of relentless conflict, where roads remain perilous, air transport is not a luxury—it is a necessity.”
The suspension comes as WFP itself faces a dire financial crunch. Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Margot van der Velden, warned that unless $130m is urgently secured, emergency food and nutrition assistance for 1.3 million people in northeast Nigeria could grind to a halt within weeks.
“We have exhausted our food and nutrition resources,” she said. “From the beginning of August, we will face the heartbreaking reality of suspending aid—not because the need has diminished, but because funding has run dry. Vulnerable families will be left to face worsening hunger, displacement or the risk of exploitation by extremist groups.”
Despite the looming crisis, Ms Van der Velden praised Nigeria’s government for stepping in as the largest financier of humanitarian efforts in the northeast, while stressing that international support remains indispensable.
In 2024 alone, UNHAS carried more than 9,000 passengers, with 4,500 aid workers depending on its flights this year to reach communities cut off by insecurity. To keep the service airborne for the next six months, the UN says it urgently requires $5.4m.
“Without this funding,” Mr Dujarric cautioned, “the humanitarian response risks being severed from the very people it is meant to serve.”
