By Muhammad Amaan
Nigeria has received at least $247.3 million in total humanitarian funding so far in 2026, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) revealed in its latest report covering eight crisis-affected countries in West and Central Africa.
Of the total sum, the report said $232.8 million flowed through the country’s Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.
This is a sharp increase that raised the country’s $516.4 million humanitarian requirement to 47 per cent, the second-highest coverage rate among the countries surveyed.
The figures were drawn from OCHA’s latest weekly West and Central Africa Regional Funding Status report for the period that ended June 22, 2026.
The report relied on data from the UN’s Financial Tracking Service.
According to the report, the figures showed that the country’s humanitarian funding coverage increased from 33 per cent in late March to 47 per cent by late June.
The OCHA ROWCA Regional Funding Status reports are published weekly and sourced from the UN Financial Tracking Service, covering all 23 countries in West and Central Africa.
Funding plans are tracked for eight countries, including Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.
According to the data obtained on Sunday, the United States of America and the European Commission’s humanitarian arm, ECHO, are the two dominant funders across the West and Central Africa region.
The US contributed $929.6 million to the region cumulatively by June 22, while ECHO contributed $321.3 million, according to the same report.
This was followed by Germany ($116.9m), the United Kingdom ($77.2m), Canada ($72.6m), and Switzerland ($72.5m).
Although the FTS data did not provide a breakdown by individual donor to the country specifically, the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund, a country-level pooled fund that channels resources directly to Nigeria, received $17.2 million and appeared as a recipient in the 2025 data and again in 2026.
Tracing the monthly trajectory through several reports covering December 2025 to June 2026, it was observed that Nigeria’s HNRP funding climbed steadily from $173.6 million as of March 30, $192.8 million by April 27, $199.9 million by May 4, $214.6 million by May 26, and $232.8 million by June 22. Funding rose by $59.2 million, or 34 per cent in three months.
The total figure, including $5.8 million outside the HNRP, stood at $247.3 million as of June 22, leaving an unmet funding gap of $274.8 million against Nigeria’s 2026 HNRP requirement.
The reports also showed a new inflow of $11 million in the week between June 15 and June 22, representing a 5 per cent increase.
The 2026 rebound follows a drastic funding shortfall the previous year, with OCHA data showing a drop in overall humanitarian funding for West and Central Africa.
By the mid-June equivalent point in 2024, the region had attracted $2.06 billion; at the same point in 2025, only $818.83 million had been mobilised, a decline of more than 60 per cent.
By June 2026, however, funding had risen back to $2.02 billion.
External humanitarian funding to Nigeria fell in 2025. Its final 2025 tally, captured in a February 23, 2026 report covering the completed 2025 cycle, shows $321.5 million raised against a funding requirement of $910.2 million, leaving an unmet gap of nearly $589 million.
In 2026, Nigeria’s HNRP requirement was reduced to $516.4 million, down from $910.2 million in 2025.
Across the 17 humanitarian clusters receiving funding in the region, Food Security had the largest single requirement at $1.803 billion but remained the most underfunded, with just 11 per cent HNRP coverage.
The Refugees cluster, which feeds into Nigeria’s displacement crisis in the Northeast and Northwest, has attracted $189.8 million within its HNRP and $91.7 million outside it, for a total of $281.5 million, representing 20 per cent of a $950.2 million requirement.
From December 2025 to May 2026, the number of Internally Displaced Persons in the Northwest geopolitical zone surged by 143,189. The surge was driven largely by a more than doubling of the IDP count in Sokoto State, bringing the IDP population in the Northwest to 793,534.
The health cluster received $93.8 million (at 27 per cent funding), Nutrition received $75.9 million (at 15 per cent funding), and Protection received $83.4 million (at 27 per cent funding).
Child Protection funding saw the sharpest rise, with a 21 per cent increase over the past six months.
On the country ranking table, Nigeria stood second only to the Democratic Republic of Congo for HNRP coverage rate, with DR Congo at 53 per cent against a $1.4 billion requirement.
Nigeria, with 47 per cent of its funding requirements met, led the Central African Republic at 31 per cent, Chad at 28 per cent, Cameroon at 24 per cent, Mali at 18 per cent, and Burkina Faso and Niger at 15 per cent each.
However, Nigeria’s 2026 funding requirement, which stood at $516.4 million, is almost half of Chad’s $986.1 million and DRC’s $1.4 billion.
On the recipient side, the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNHCR are the largest channels for regional funds. By June 22, the WFP and the UNHCR received $213.5 million and $197 million, respectively.
Other major recipients include UNICEF ($63.9m), the International Committee of the Red Cross ($72.3m), Action Against Hunger ($81m) and the International Rescue Committee ($26.5m).
