Akinbode Oluwafemi, the executive director of CAPPA | File Image
By Valentine Amanze
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has urged governments at all levels to implement comprehensive food policies that protect Nigerians from the growing threat of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and unhealthy beverages.
The advice came on the heels of globale celebration of World Food Day 2025 (October 16, 2025).
CAPPA, in a statement signed by its Media and Communication Officer, Robert Egbe, on Thursday, also warned that more Nigerians, particularly children, adolescents and young adults, were being aggressively targeted with unhealthy diets that were not only nutrient-poor and heavily processed, but deceptively packaged and marketed as healthy and convenient.
“The result is a worrying nutrition transition away from traditional, wholesome diets toward unhealthy dietary patterns that fuel the country’s rising burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and kidney failure,” CAPPA stated.
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Observed annually on October 16, World Food Day commemorates the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1945.
This year’s theme, “Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future,” underscores the need for cooperation and evidence-based policies to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, safe, and nutritious food.
CAPPA argued that healthy food policies were critical to achieving the goal and creating a peaceful, sustainable, and food-secure future.
“Nigeria today confronts a stark and shameful reality: Our country now ranks among the lowest globally in life expectancy, with average lifespans in the mid-50s,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, CAPPA’s Executive Director.
“This tragic statistic is a wake-up call that exposes systemic failures across our food, health, and social systems, and demands urgent policy and regulatory action.”
Oluwafemi also expressed concern that corporations continue to expand their marketing web through digital and social media advertising, school sponsorships, celebrity endorsements, and cultural co-opting, all designed to make unhealthy products appear normal or aspirational.
“Children and youth are especially vulnerable to these tactics,” he warned.
Citing CAPPA’s recent report, “Junk On Our Plates: Exposing Deceptive Marketing of Unhealthy Foods Across Seven States in Nigeria,” he noted how multinational and local food and beverage corporations employ aggressive, misleading, and culturally targeted marketing to normalise the consumption of ultra-processed, high-sugar, and high-sodium products across the country.
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