The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) has ended its fixed-wing air service in Nigeria due to a lack of funding. Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, disclosed this during a press briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York.
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For nine years, UNHAS has transported humanitarian staff, medical supplies, and critical cargo to and from the epicentre of the crisis in Borno and Yobe states. Dujarric emphasized that air transport is essential in a country that has experienced 16 years of conflict, where road transport remains extremely dangerous.
The World Food Programme (WFP) had warned that it might be compelled to suspend all emergency food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people in northeast Nigeria at the end of July due to severe funding cuts.
WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Margot van der Velden, painted a dire humanitarian situation in Nigeria, stating that the agency urgently needs $130 million to sustain emergency food and nutrition operations in Northeast Nigeria for six months.
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“We have exhausted our food and nutrition resources,” Velden said. “And at the beginning of August, we will have to face the heartbreaking reality of having to suspend our operations for the populations in northeast Nigeria. Our teams will have to tell the population that they no longer will receive aid, not because there is no need but because there are no resources for that assistance.”
Velden expressed concerns that if life-saving assistance ended, millions of vulnerable people could face impossible choices, including enduring severe hunger, migrating, or risking exploitation by extremist groups. However, she commended the Nigerian government for its support, noting that it is the largest financier of the emergency response in the northeast.
In 2024, UNHAS fixed-wing flights carried over 9,000 passengers, and 4,500 humanitarian staff have relied on the service to reach affected areas this year. Dujarric said $5.4 million is needed for the UN air service to remain operational for the next six months. “Without this funding, the humanitarian response in northeast Nigeria risks being cut off from the very people it is meant to serve,” he regretted.
Without urgent funding, Nigeria’s northeast risks being cut off from life-saving aid, leaving millions more vulnerable to hunger, displacement, and extremist exploitation a crisis with consequences far beyond its borders.
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