The UK’s development partnership with Nigeria

Status / emerging findings

• Severe malnutrition crisis: 10% of Nigerian children under five suffer acute malnutrition; 700+ weekly admissions to stabilisation centres in Katsina alone, with funding cuts forcing organisations to turn away moderately malnourished children
• Women's services gutted: 62% of women-led organisations have suspended or reduced services; 34% closed violence-prevention programmes entirely, creating gaps where gender-based violence normalises
• Governance work collapsed: ActionAid's anti-corruption programme recovered $700 million in tracked funds but lost all traction after FCDO cuts despite stated UK security interests
• Climate-development trade-off exposed: BII has invested $590 million across 116 Nigerian businesses (54,000 jobs, $90 million tax revenue), but one-third concentrated in Indorama fertiliser—a fossil fuel-adjacent investment defended as emissions-reducing but challenged as undermining soil health
• Malnutrition–extremism nexus confirmed: witnesses identified direct geographic correlation between malnutrition hotspots and Boko Haram/non-state armed group activity, suggesting poverty-driven recruitment

Why it matters

The UK is cutting development funding to Nigeria during a hunger and security crisis, and the committee's investigation will determine whether this withdrawal worsens extremism, migration, and gender violence across one of Africa's most strategically important nations.

Tone arc

Opened cooperative on peacebuilding evidence (January), turned sharply adversarial in December session on funding cuts and malnutrition, then mixed-to-critical in April as committee pressed BII on climate commitments and delayed aid transparency.

Key witnesses

Chris Chijiutomi (British International Investment), Baroness Chapman of Darlington (FCDO Minister), Mary Dinah (nutrition/humanitarian NGO), Hamsatu Allamin (Allamin Foundation, peacebuilding), Aisha Abdurrahman (Bridge for Women Development Initiative), Andrew Mamedu (governance/anti-corruption), Saratu Joshua Pindar (Center for Civilians in Conflict)