Report Exposes Deceptive Marketing Of Junk Food Driving Nigeria’s Health Crisis

BY ROYAL IBEH and MUIZ ADESHINA, Lagos

A new report has shown how aggressive and deceptive marketing by food and beverage companies fuels Nigeria’s growing public health crisis, especially in the most vulnerable communities.

The report, “Junk on Our Plates,” was unveiled at a media briefing in Lagos on Wednesday by the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA). It revealed that Nigerians increasingly consume ultra-processed foods packed with dangerous levels of sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats, products often disguised as healthy through misleading advertisements and strategic branding.

The report draws from field research conducted between April and July 2024 across seven Nigerian states—Lagos, Abuja, Imo, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Niger, and Osun—where CAPPA documented the marketing strategies used by manufacturers of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), seasoning products, and processed snacks.

The report’s findings revealed that companies market sugary beverages as healthy, using local languages and aligning with cultural events to build emotional connections. Celebrity endorsements and branded materials are also used to dominate rural retail spaces, often without informing sellers of the associated health risks.

Other findings revealed that seasoning cubes overloaded with sodium and MSG are heavily promoted in the North using Hausa-language campaigns that falsely suggest they are integral to traditional diets, and SSB producers aggressively market in schools, festivals, and marketplaces, contributing to high consumption rates and rising NCDs.

Reacting to the study, the executive director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, warned that these marketing tactics, particularly in underserved areas, are contributing to a surge in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease—conditions that now account for over 30 percent of deaths annually in Nigeria.

“It is a public health emergency. The food industry is exploiting regulatory loopholes and weak enforcement to push harmful products, especially to children and low-income communities. Our diets are being hijacked,” Oluwafemi said.

Youth health advocate Adebayo Adenike from ETH Vanguard highlighted the dangerous normalization of junk food consumption in rural areas. “Companies are using music, dance, and gifts to attract children and families. We’ve seen communities where people believe these drinks are actually good for them. But these products are silent killers,” she said.

CAPPA project Officer Opeyemi Ibitoye presented public health-backed policy recommendations and called for urgent government action, including banning junk food marketing near schools, increasing the SSB tax from ₦10 per liter and redirecting revenues to health programmmes, setting mandatory sodium limits on seasoning products, requiring clear front-of-pack warning labels, and launching a nationwide consumer education campaign.

Although Nigeria has taken initial steps like introducing SSB taxation and issuing sodium reduction guidelines, CAPPA’s report asserted these efforts fall short in the face of persistent industry manipulation and inadequate policy enforcement.

“The government must stop treating food regulation as optional. We need bold policies and strict enforcement if we’re going to protect public health and save lives.

“As Nigeria grapples with the twin challenges of malnutrition and rising NCDs, ‘Junk on Our Plates’ serves as a wake-up call. Without swift regulatory intervention, the country’s food landscape will continue to be shaped not by nutrition, but by profit,” Ibitoye emphasised.