By Dickson Pat
At least 65.8% of Nigerian households were unable to eat healthy, nutritious, or preferred foods in the past 30 days due to lack of money.
This is based on the General Household Survey-Panel Wave 5 (2023/2024), a new report from the National Bureau of Statistics ,NBS.
The report, supported by the World Bank, further shows that 63.8% of households relied on a limited variety of foods, while 62.4% expressed worry about having insufficient food to eat.
Also, 60.5% of households said they consumed less food than they should, with 12.3% reporting that at least one member went a full day without eating. A notable 20.8% of households had to borrow food or seek assistance from friends and relatives to survive.
The report read: “Approximately two out of three households (65.8%) reported being unable to eat healthy, nutritious, or preferred foods because of lack of money in the last 30 days. 63.8% of households ate only a few kinds of food due to lack of money, 62.4% were worried about not having enough food to eat, and 60.5% ate less than they thought they should.
“Furthermore, 12.3% reported that at least one person in the household went without eating for a whole day, and 20.8% of households had to borrow food or rely on help from friends or relatives”.
Geographic disparities were evident, with households in Nigeria’s southern zones reporting higher levels of food insecurity than those in the northern regions. In the South-South zone, for instance, over 60% of households admitted to skipping meals due to financial difficulties, compared to fewer cases in the North Central zone.
The report also highlighted the disproportionate burden on female-headed households.
A staggering 72.2% of female-led households were unable to afford healthy meals, compared to 64% of male-led households.
The gap was even more pronounced in cases where households completely ran out of food, with 55.2% of female-headed households affected versus 41.3% of male-headed ones.
The data also revealed a significant rise in food insecurity compared to 2018/2019. The proportion of households worried about food due to financial challenges has nearly doubled, climbing from 36.9% in Wave 4 to 62.4% in Wave 5.
The North Central zone experienced the largest increase, where households expressing food-related concerns tripled from 16.2% to 44.9%. Meanwhile, the South West zone saw a smaller increase, from 46.7% to 61.7%.
Also, 37% of households reported experiencing food shortages in the past 12 months. Among these, 61.6% faced shortages during specific months, particularly June, July, and August, which were identified as the most difficult periods.
The North East zone recorded the highest food shortages at 53%, while the North Central zone had the lowest incidence at 25.7%.
