Hardship: Nigerians now borrow, skip meals for days – NBS 

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has said food scarcity, insecurity and high prices have forced Nigerian households to cut consumption.

To this end, the body said 65 percent of families and other residents are unable to afford healthy meals over lack of money.

NBS disclosed this in its latest General Household Survey Panel (Wave 5) report conducted in collaboration with the World Bank.

The report said 71 percent of households were impacted by price increases on major food items, with food shortages affecting more than a third of households in the past year.

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These shortages, it noted, were most pronounced in June, July, and August, exacerbating the food insecurity crisis.

The data further said 48.8 percent of households reported reducing their food consumption as a coping mechanism.

“In the past 12 months, more than one-third of households faced food shortages, which occurred more frequently in the months of June, July, and August.

“Price increases on major food items were the most prevalent shock reported by households, affecting 71.0 percent of surveyed households.”

The report said the number of households worried about not having enough food to eat increased from 36.9 percent in Wave 4 (conducted in 2019) to 62.4 percent in Wave 5.

According to NBS, the surge was due to an increase in food insecurity, with more than half of Nigerian families struggling to meet their dietary needs.

“Approximately two out of three households (65.8 percent) reported being unable to eat healthy, nutritious or preferred foods because of lack of money in the last 30 days.

“63.8 percent of households ate only a few kinds of food due to lack of money, 62.4 percent were worried about not having enough food to eat, and 60.5 percent ate less than they thought they should,” the report added.

It further said 12.3 percent reported that at least one person in the household went without eating for a whole day and 20.8 percent of households had to borrow food or rely on help from friends or relatives.

“In general, households in the southern zones report more incidents related to food security than those in northern zones.

“For example, in the southern zones, the proportion of households reporting that they had to skip a meal ranged from 50.1 percent in South West to 62.4 percent in South East, while in the northern zones this share varied from 34.0 percent in North Central to 48.3 percent in North East.”

NBS noted that residents in the south-south zone had the highest (most concerning) rate in five out of eight indicators of food insecurity.

“In contrast, the data bureau said north-central had the lowest rate in six of the eight indicators”, it submitted.