Obesity a Growing Concern in Nigeria

Obesity is a chronic disease and a driver of other diseases, with serious implications for individuals, families, societies, and economies.

In the 2021 Global Nutrition report, data from Nigeria shows how much progress the country has made towards achieving the global nutrition targets. Of the 13 targets, Nigeria has made 'some progress' in achieving four targets while the country is reported to be 'off-course' on seven targets. It is estimated that 15.7% of adult women (aged 18 years and over) and 5.9% of adult men are obese. However, the prevalence of obesity in Nigeria is lower than the regional average of 20.7% for women and 9.2% for men, writes Hadiza Mohammed for Nigeria Health Watch. 

In January, the government imposed a sugar tax of U.S.$0.02 (N10) per litre on all non-alcoholic, carbonated, and sweetened beverages in the country. Health experts, however, believe that the newly introduced "sugar tax" in Nigeria will not only tackle obesity but will help reduce deaths from other non-communicable diseases.

Several studies have linked the intake of excess sugar and sugar-sweetened beverages with obesity, type 2 diabetes, overweight, cardiovascular diseases and other non-communicable diseases.