As the global community marks World Health Day (WHD), the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has renewed its call for governments at all levels to prioritise adequate healthcare funding and adopt robust healthy food policies.
These steps, CAPPA explained, are critical to reducing Nigerians’ exposure to unhealthy diets aggressively promoted by the sugary drinks and ultra-processed food industry, which are contributing to the country’s growing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The 2025 WHD theme, Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures, spotlights the health of mothers and babies as the foundation for healthy families. CAPPA noted that the theme is a timely reminder for the Nigerian government to strengthen food systems and ensure access to nutritious food for all citizens.
According to a statement by CAPPA’s Media and Communication Officer, Robert Egbe, the group cited dire health statistics in Nigeria, with rising cases of NCDs, malnutrition, infectious diseases, and maternal mortality.
“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,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of CAPPA.
“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 poor state of health infrastructure in the country, largely because of poor funding of the sector,” he added.
CAPPA acknowledged the ₦2.48 trillion allocation to the health sector in the 2025 national budget—5.18% of the ₦47.9 trillion total budget—but pointed out it still falls far below the World Health Organization’s 13% recommendation and the African Union’s Abuja Declaration target of 15%.
Commending the recent launch of the National Guideline for Sodium Reduction, CAPPA described such efforts as “low-hanging fruits with high yields” for public health protection.
The policy aims to tackle excessive salt consumption and reduce hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. CAPPA urged the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to move swiftly to implement regulations that enforce sodium limits in processed and packaged foods.
The group also highlighted the dangers of excessive Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) consumption and called for stronger fiscal measures to curb their intake.
It recommended aligning with WHO’s advice to raise SSB taxes enough to hike retail prices by at least 20%, suggesting Nigeria increase its current excise duty from N10 per liter to a minimum of N130 per liter.
“Tobacco use is public health’s number one enemy responsible for millions of preventable deaths worldwide, including that of thousands of Nigerians yearly. While we applaud the government for increasing the allocation to the [Tobacco Control Fund] to N13 million in this year’s budget, we insist that N13m remains grossly insufficient compared to the level of funding required for the effective implementation of the National Tobacco Control Act (NTCA) 2015,” Oluwafemi added.
CAPPA recommended an increased allocation of at least N300 million to the Tobacco Control Fund.
“As things stand, Nigeria is off track to meet global survival targets by 2030, but by implementing healthy food policies, the country stands a chance of giving its people hope for a better future,” the statement concluded.
