Hardship: Two-thirds of Nigerian families go hungry, says govt report

Nearly two-thirds of Nigerian households are going hungry and many skipping meals due to high costs.

A report from the National Bureau of Statistics released Thursday shows that 62.4% of families faced food shortages in 2023, up from 37% in 2019. The situation will be far worse as prices have risen more in the last 11 months of 2024.

The Nigeria General Household Survey-Panel 2023/2024 report also revealed that 12.3% of households had at least one person who went without food for a whole day.

Nigerians have endured harsh economic conditions since 2015 when former President Muhammadu Buhari shut the borders, blocking food importation in a bid to boost domestic production. Prices surged as local food volumes failed to keep pace with demand.

President Bola Tinubu’s decision last year to remove fuel and electricity subsidies, and devalue the naira drove inflation to unprecedented levels within months. Since he took office in May 2023, inflation has soared to 33.9%.

Food inflation hit a near-record 41% in June, making it harder for families to afford basic meals. About 21% of households rely on support from friends or relatives to get by.

Poor nutrition is causing physical harm, with a quarter of children being underweight for their age, up from 19% four years ago, the report says.

The cost of a healthy diet rose 30% between May and September.

Here’s what the Nigeria General Household Survey-Panel 2023/2024 report said about food security:

Approximately two out of three households (65.8 percent) reported being unable to eat healthy, nutritious, or preferred foods because of lack of money in the last 30 days (Figure 4.8). 63.8 percent of households ate only a few kinds of food due to lack of money, 62.4 percent were worried about not having enough food to eat, and 60.5 percent ate less than they thought they should.

Furthermore, 12.3 percent reported that at least one person in the household went without eating for a whole day, and 20.8 percent of households had to borrow food or rely on help from friends or relatives.

Region

“In general, households in the southern zones report more incidents related to food security than those in northern zones. For example, in the southern zones, the proportion of households reporting that they had to skip a meal ranged from 50.1 percent in South West to 62.4 percent in South East, while in the northern zones this share varied from 34.0 percent in North Central to 48.3 percent in North East.

The South South zone has the highest (most concerning) rate in five out of eight indicators of food insecurity. In contrast, North Central has the lowest rate in six of the eight indicators.

At the national level, the rate of households with such concerns has nearly doubled, from 36.9 percent in Wave 4 to 62.4 percent in Wave 5. The northern zones have experienced the largest increases. In the North Central zone, only 16.2 percent of households reported being in this situation during Wave 4, but in Wave 5 the proportion tripled to 44.9 percent. In contrast, the South West zone exhibited the smallest rise in this indicator of insecurity, from 46.7 percent in Wave 4 to 61.7 percent of households in Wave 5.”

Gender

“A larger share of female-headed households report experiencing incidents related to food security, compared to male-headed households. For instance, 72.2 percent of female-headed household reported being unable to eat healthy, nutritious, or preferred foods, while for male-headed households, this figure was 64.0 percent.

The largest sex gap is observed in the proportion of households that ran out of food because of lack of money, with a difference of 13.9 percentage points: 41.3 percent for male-headed and 55.2 percent for female-headed households Wave 5 (2023/24) reveals significant increases in the proportion of households worried about not having enough food to eat because of lack of money, compared to Wave 4 (2018/19).”