The recent aid cuts by the United States and the United Kingdom are taking a devastating toll on millions of Nigerians, from health to nutrition and humanitarian support. Donor-funded clinics are shutting down, with maternal health services stalling.

The federal government has made promises and commitments to fill the gap, but citizens are yet to feel any impact. The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development is yet to bring any comprehensive plan to fill the wide gap.

Mdevaan Nyitor, a knowledge management and communications specialist at Palladium, an implementing partner of USAID’s Integrated Health Programme (IHP), told BusinessDay that the cuts have had far-reaching consequences on critical services.

“The programme has been shut down completely, leaving hundreds of thousands of expectant mothers and children without access to skilled care,” she said.

The USAID IHP aimed to scale up interventions in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health, as well as nutrition and malaria, to improve primary healthcare service delivery and strengthen health systems. The programme supported 160 healthcare facilities, including 92 primary health centers, 12 general hospitals, and 56 private health centers in the FCT alone.

Before its closure, the programme had averted an estimated 104,903 unintended pregnancies, prevented 533 maternal deaths and saved the lives of 2,615 children.

Troubling situation in NE

In the North-East, the situation is even more dire. Some 300,000 malnourished children across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states now face imminent hunger, as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) prepares to shut down more than 150 nutrition centres due to funding shortfalls.

According to WFP, its food and nutrition stocks have been completely exhausted. The last supplies left warehouses in early July. Without new contributions, emergency assistance for 1.3 million people in the North-East will be suspended this month.

“Without immediate funding, millions of vulnerable people will face impossible choices: endure worsening hunger, migrate in search of help, or risk falling into the hands of extremist groups,” the agency warned.

The consequences of the funding gap are already visible. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported that between January and June 2025, the number of malnourished children with nutritional oedema, the most severe and fatal form of malnutrition, rose by 208 percent compared to the same period in 2024.

At least 652 children have already died in MSF- supported health facilities since the beginning of 2025 due to delayed or denied access to treatment.

Furthermore, the WFP will be forced to suspend all emergency food and nutrition aid for 1.3 million people in northeast Nigeria in August.

David Stevenson, WFP country director for Nigeria said, “WFP’s operations in northeast Nigeria will collapse without immediate, sustained funding. This is no longer just a humanitarian crisis, it’s a growing threat to regional stability, as families pushed beyond their limits are left with nowhere to turn.”

He said nearly 31 million people in Nigeria are now facing acute hunger.

According to Action Against Hunger, 5.4 million children and 787,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2025.

Faced with a deepening humanitarian crisis, the Nigerian government has taken steps to shore up critical services.

An official at the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, said the government is working to ramp up funding, especially domestic funding, but its efforts remain dwarfed by the scale and technical complexity of the international aid retreat.

The Federal Government has reached out for enhanced partnerships with international agencies including the European Union (EU), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN), as well as private-sector philanthropists, seeking to replace foreign aid with investments.

As an immediate intervention, the government approved an emergency N4.8 billion allocation to procure 150,000 HIV treatment packs over a four-month period—intended to prevent life-threatening disruptions for people living with HIV. Additionally, N300 billion ($200 million) has been earmarked to offset shortfalls in vaccine delivery, maternal services, and disease control efforts, including malaria and HIV.

However, citizens are yet to feel any impact. The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs has yet to announce any comprehensive response plan.

Nigeria faces a potential funding shortfall of an estimated $985 million annually to close yet gaps.

According to the Centre for Global Development, Nigeria receives an estimated $18 per capita in total funding support from international donors annually, with the United States contributing 24 percent of the total—equivalent to $4.32 per person.

With an estimated population of 228 million, Nigeria received approximately $4.1 billion in ODA in 2023, with the US contributing $984.96 million of the total, largely delivered through the USAID.

Oyewale Tomori, renowned virologist and a former WHO advisor, described the funding cuts as a much-needed wake-up call for Nigeria to reorder its priorities and abandon its dependency on foreign aid.

He noted that global funding will continue to shrink, but also cautioned against missing this opportunity, noting that funding freeze could worsen in the future.

Olayinka Oladimeji, former director, Primary Healthcare Systems Development at the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, said Nigeria has the capacity to ramp up funding, but the government must continue to look inwardly. (BusinessDay)