Nigeria instability sends 66,000 fleeing, UN says

More than 66,000 people fled from Nigeria into Niger and Benin by mid-October 2026 to escape violence and insecurity, the UN refugee agency said.

UNHCR said the figure was three times the number recorded in the same period last year. It said relief efforts were being hampered because 34,000 people had not yet registered.

Eujin Byun, a UNHCR spokesperson in Geneva, said those who had not registered were at “heightened risk” and were struggling to access essential assistance.

The agency appealed for $2 million to help people who crossed the border and tens of thousands of others still in Nigeria.

Northern Nigeria faces violence by jihadists and criminal bandit gangs, religious intolerance and farmer-herder clashes. Jihadist violence in northern Nigeria has also spilled into Niger, Chad and Cameroon, prompting a regional military coalition to fight militant groups.