Worry as Majority of Nigerian Households Lack Money for Healthy Food

By Adedapo Adesanya

A new report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that two-thirds of households in Nigeria are unable to have healthy and nutritional meals.

The NBS survey titled Nigeria General Household Survey – Panel (GHS-Panel) Wave 5 (2023/2024), reflects an apparent reflection of the multidimensional poverty in the country and the impact of continuous reduction in the purchasing power of Nigerians due to rising prices of goods and services.

Another pointer of worsening conditions from the survey showed that households in the country experience an average of six power blackouts every week (6.7).

On food insecurity, the survey report stated: “Approximately two out of three households indicated being unable to eat healthy, nutritious or preferred foods because of lack of money in the last 30 days.

“Similarly, 63.8 per cent of households ate only a few kinds of food due to lack of money, 62.4 per cent were worried about not having enough food to eat, and 60.5 per cent ate less than they thought they should.

“Between Waves 4 and 5, the proportion of households that reported being worried about not having enough food to eat because of lack of money increased significantly, from 36.9 per cent to 62.4 per cent.”

On access to energy, the NBS survey revealed that “82.2 per cent of urban households have electricity, compared to 40.4 per cent in rural areas.

“Cooking typically involves traditional three-stone stoves (65.0 per cent), primarily using wood as fuel (70.2 per cent), but with the use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rising significantly.

“Many households lack toilet facilities and rely on tube wells or boreholes for drinking water. Waste disposal is mostly informal, with 45.6 per cent of households using bushes or streets,” it stated.

On asset ownership, the survey revealed that Nigerians are also grappling to own assets, with trends falling for the fifth consecutive year, the report noted that, “Overall asset ownership has declined since 2018/19. However, two-thirds of households have mobile phones, and about 21.3 per cent access the Internet.

“The survey shows that 70.4 per cent of households own their homes, with rural ownership at 80.1 per cent, compared to 49.1 per cent in urban areas.”