Over 40% Nigerians deprived of healthy diet due to poverty – Survey

The Nigerian General Household Survey (GHS) report has revealed over 40 per cent of household in Nigeria cannot feed on healthy diet due to poverty.

The GHS report which was released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Wednesday shows that 31.6 per cent of households experienced food shortage in the past 12 months with July and August being the peak months for most households.

“Increase in the price of food items, increase in the price of inputs. Theft of crop, cash, livestock and flooding that caused harvest losses were the most common shocks reported.

“The Nigerian General Household Survey (GHS) is implemented in collaboration with the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) team as part of the Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (ISA) program”.

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According to the report, Southern zones and urban areas show greater vulnerability to food insecurity and shortages than the northern zones and rural areas. “The South-east recorded the highest percentage of households unable to have a healthy diet and nutritious foods, followed by South-South, while the north-central had the least percentage of the household that went without eating”.

A further breakdown of the report shows that 44.6 per cent do not have access to electricity, 26.3 per cent do not have access to toilet facility while 59.3 per cent also lack access to a formal system of refuse disposal.