Edino Chubiyo Cornelius 
ABUJA, Nigeria – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has appealed for urgent international support as worsening violence across the Lake Chad Basin drives fresh displacement, deepens humanitarian needs and threatens to reverse years of fragile recovery efforts across the region.
Speaking at a press briefing in Geneva on Friday, UNHCR Deputy Director for West and Central Africa, Andrew Wyllie, said the security situation spanning parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria has deteriorated sharply, leaving millions of people in urgent need of assistance.
According to UNHCR, more than 3.5 million people have been displaced across the Lake Chad Basin, while approximately 8.2 million people now require humanitarian aid.
The agency said security incidents surged by 80 per cent between January 2024 and April 2026. Between September 2025 and May 2026, nearly 1,800 violent incidents and more than 5,700 deaths were recorded, including attacks on civilians, kidnappings, bomb explosions, armed clashes and raids on communities.
Since January 2026, more than 77,500 people have been newly displaced across the four affected countries. The figure includes over 16,000 Nigerian refugees who fled attacks in north-eastern Nigeria and crossed into Niger’s Diffa Region, where emergency assistance is underway.
The agency said the violence is increasingly spilling across borders. In Chad’s Lac Province, repeated attacks and military operations have displaced about 60,000 people, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency in May, while persistent insecurity continues to affect Cameroon’s Far North region.
The proportion of people reporting that they know survivors of violence rose to 27 per cent in 2026, up from 19 per cent in 2025, highlighting a worsening protection environment despite widespread underreporting.
About the Author
Oluwatobi Adu 
Hussaini Ibrahim 
Korede Abdullah 