Tracy Ohovwore, Benin City
To mark World Health Day (WHD), Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) called on governments at various levels to prioritise adequate healthcare funding and the adoption of healthy food policies to curb Nigerians’ exposure to unhealthy diets.
The group noted that the sugary drinks and ultra-processed industries aggressively promote unhealthy foods in Nigeria and are worsening the country’s non-communicable diseases (NCDs) burden.
The 2025 WHD theme, “Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures,” focuses on the health of mothers and babies. CAPPA noted that the theme for the year provides an opportunity for the government to review and strengthen its healthy food systems.
In a statement, CAPPA disclosed data showing that Nigeria’s health indicators are in dire straits, with cases of NCDs, malnutrition, infectious diseases, and maternal mortality being some of the worst in the world.
“Every day, many parents – misled by the ultra-processed food industry – inadvertently make food choices high in fat, salt or sugar (HFSS) that harm their children’s health.
“This industry aggressively promotes the excessive consumption of nutrient-poor, calorie-dense products – that it presents as foods – thus exacerbating Nigeria’s already troubling prevalence of non-communicable diseases like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular conditions, and placing additional strain on the country’s healthcare system.
“All of these are further compounded by the alarming exodus of healthcare professionals and the poor state of health infrastructure in the country, largely because of poor funding of the sector,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director, CAPPA.
The statement further revealed that the federal government allocated ₦2.48 trillion to the health sector in the 2025 budget, which is 5.18 per cent of the total ₦47.9 trillion.
However, while it seemed like an improvement compared to the 2024 budgetary allocation, CAPPA noted that it falls significantly short of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation of 13 per cent and the African Union’s Abuja Declaration target of 15 per cent.
It further discussed the Abuja Declaration, signed in 2001, which commits African Union member states to allocating at least 15 per cent of their national budgets to the health sector.
CAPPA statement further commended the Nigerian government and public health authoritiesfor launching the National Guideline for Sodium Reduction and urged them to view such policies as low-hanging fruits with high yields in the race to protect public health.
The Guideline, designed to tackle excessive salt consumption and reduce the growing burden of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases in the country, was launched in Abuja on March 26, 2025, by the federal government and its local and international partners, including Resolve to Save Lives, Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), Network for Health Equity and Development (NHED), and CAPPA.
To guarantee the effectiveness of the Guidelines, CAPPA called on the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to expedite action on formulating a suitable regulation that will ensure the enforcement of sodium (salt) targets in processed and packaged foods.
The Nongovernmental Organisation (NGO) further highlighted the looming danger to public health posed by excessive consumption of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) while encouraging the Nigerian government to adopt WHO’s recommendation that countries raise taxes on SSBs to increase retail prices by at least 20 per cent to reduce consumption and improve public health.
CAPPA further advised the government to increase the current excise duty rate of N10 per liter on non-alcoholic drinks.
