By Ayo Kehinde
The National Bureau of Statistics has revealed that two out of every three households in Nigeria cannot afford healthy and nutritious food.
The finding is part of the bureau’s latest General Household Survey Panel (Wave 5), conducted in collaboration with the World Bank.
The report attributes the situation to the high cost of living, food scarcity, and insecurity, which have forced many Nigerians to reduce food consumption within their households.
According to the report titled Nigeria General Household Survey – Panel (GHS-Panel) Wave 5 (2023/2024), 63.8% of households resorted to consuming limited varieties of food due to financial constraints, while 60.5% reported eating less than they felt they needed.
“Approximately two out of three households indicated being unable to eat healthy, nutritious, or preferred foods because of lack of money in the last 30 days.
The reported said, “Similarly, 63.8 per cent of households ate only a few kinds of food due to lack of money, 62.4 per cent were worried about not having enough food to eat, and 60.5 per cent ate less than they thought they should.
“Between Waves 4 and 5, the proportion of households that reported being worried about not having enough food to eat because of lack of money increased significantly, from 36.9 percent to 62.4 percent,”
The survey also showed that households in the country experience 6.7 power blackouts every week.
It added, “82.2 percent of urban households have electricity, compared to 40.4 per cent in rural areas.
“Cooking typically involves traditional three-stone stoves (65.0 percent), primarily using wood as fuel (70.2 per cent), but with use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rising significantly.
“Many households lack toilet facilities and rely on tube wells or boreholes for drinking water. Waste disposal is mostly informal, with 45.6 percent of households using bushes or streets.”
The report also highlighted a decline in overall asset ownership since 2018/19.
However, mobile phone ownership remains significant, with two-thirds of households possessing one, and 21.3% having internet access.
Regarding housing, 70.4% of Nigerian households own their homes. Ownership is higher in rural areas (80.1%) compared to urban regions (49.1%).
