Almost two out of three Nigerian households are going hungry, with families skipping meals as they cannot afford enough food, according to a report by the country’s statistics agency.
The number of households that reported not having enough food to eat because of lack of money doubled to 62.4% in 2023 from 37% in 2019, according to the report, published Thursday on the website of the National Bureau of Statistics.
“Furthermore, 12.3% reported that at least one person in the household went without eating for a whole day,” the report said, underlining the impact of food inflation that peaked at a near-three-decade high 41% in June. About 21% of households rely on help from friends or relatives, it said.
Already, poor nutrition is leading to physical effects such as stunted growth, with a quarter of boys and girls regarded as underweight for their age, up from 19% four years ago.
Food prices are being stoked by reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu, with the annual inflation rate rising to 33.9% in October. Since coming into office in May 2023, Tinubu has removed currency restrictions, resulting in a 72% depreciation of the naira. He has also eliminated subsidies on fuel and electricity, leading to prices more than doubling.
While the reforms have been hailed by international investors as well as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, it triggered demonstrations in August as Nigerians poured onto the streets to protest against rising food prices.
The average cost of a healthy diet has risen 30% in the five months through September, the statistics agency said in a separate report published this week.
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