A new report has exposed how food corporations use a sophisticated web of marketing strategies to lure Nigerians—especially children and young adults—into consuming ultra-processed foods that damage their health, undermine public health policies, and cost the Nigerian healthcare system billions.
The report, Junk on Our Plates: Exposing Deceptive Marketing of Unhealthy Foods Across Seven States in Nigeria, was unveiled on Wednesday in Lagos by the pan-African non-governmental organisation (NGO) Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA).
According to CAPPA, the report details a systematic, profit-driven assault on public health by the food and beverage industry.
The NGO’s findings revealed that, through aggressive marketing, cultural co-optation, celebrity endorsements, and deceptive labelling, corporations have entrenched ultra-processed, high-sugar, and high-sodium products in Nigeria’s food environment—targeting children, youth, low-income communities, and cultural identities to drive sales.
The report accused the industry of leveraging extensive advertising, cultural trends, pricing strategies, and distribution networks to influence food culture and dietary habits, often prioritising highly processed, calorie-dense, and nutrient-poor foods due to their profitability and long shelf life.
This trend, it added, is contributing to the gradual disappearance of healthy, natural, indigenous foods from Nigerians’ diets.
CAPPA acknowledged the Nigerian government’s “bold steps” in tackling the challenge, citing initiatives such as the introduction of the Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) Tax of N10 per litre, which aims to discourage excessive consumption and reduce the risk of diet-related diseases.
The report noted that, in 2023, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) introduced regulations on trans fats and pre-packaged food labelling, while in March 2025, the government launched the National Guideline for Sodium Reduction—a strategic policy aimed at addressing the excessive salt content in packaged foods, a major contributor to high blood pressure and heart disease in Nigeria.
“All of these are good steps,” CAPPA’s Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said. However, he warned that “The food and beverage industry continues to exploit loopholes. They use covert marketing, target children, and take advantage of weak enforcement of existing regulations to flood the market with unhealthy products—tactics reminiscent of the deadly strategies long used by the tobacco industry. In some cases, they also exploit weak border controls and ignore product standards altogether.”
CAPPA cautioned that the widespread promotion of foods high in saturated fats, salt, and sugar (HFSS) is reshaping global dietary patterns and negatively affecting public health.
As HFSS foods dominate markets worldwide, CAPPA noted, “non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular conditions linked to their excessive consumption have risen, highlighting the need for stronger public health interventions to balance the food industry’s influence with consumer well-being.”
Oluwafemi raised the alarm: “These tactics undermine existing public health policies,” adding that corporations take advantage of policy gaps to create an illusion of choice, “while denying people the right to accurate information and healthier options.”
The report made several recommendations, including a call for stronger marketing regulations, particularly those aimed at children.
Oluwafemi further stated, “We need clear and readable front-of-pack warning labels on processed foods. We need limits on salt and sugar content. And we need public awareness campaigns and food policymaking that are state-led, free from corporate sponsorship or influence.”
Additional recommendations include strengthening regulations on the marketing of unhealthy foods—particularly to children—raising Nigeria’s SSB tax from N10 to N130 to make sugary beverages less cost-attractive, and implementing national sodium reduction programmes.
“Nigeria can take impactful steps towards promoting healthier dietary habits, reducing the crippling burden of non-communicable diseases, and safeguarding the well-being of its population,” Oluwafemi added.
Echoing this sentiment, CAPPA’s Assistant Executive Director, Zikora Ibeh, remarked, “We have discovered that Nigeria’s food environment is changing, but for the worse. Increasingly, we are consuming items that are unhealthy—taking in excessive amounts of salt, sugar, fat, and heavily processed foods that are harmful.”
“Nobody is saying these corporations should be shut down. We’re saying that the government needs to step up enforcement and regulations on these products so that consumers can easily identify harmful ingredients and understand the recommended intake.”
She urged Nigeria to invest in food systems that prioritise the health of its citizens over the profit margins of multinational corporations. This, she argued, requires direct public investment in local food production, the expansion of agroecological farming systems, and a reversal of trade policies that allow unhealthy foreign products to flood the market.
Humphrey Ukeaja, Industry Monitoring Officer at CAPPA, stated that the report highlights the “ongoing trend of false narratives and the tactics of intentional misinformation deployed by the food and beverage industry in Nigeria to promote unhealthy diets.”
“These strategies—including extensive advertising, exploitation of cultural trends, and strategic pricing—contribute to the increased consumption of calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods, fuelling a rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
“In Nigeria, the prevalence of NCDs has risen sharply over the past decades, with these diseases accounting for at least 30 per cent of all deaths annually. The urgency for effective policy interventions has never been greater.”
Emphasising the need to protect children from industry practices, CAPPA’s Programme Officer for the SSB Tax Campaign, Opeyemi Ibitoye, added: “If restrictions are placed on how these SSB products are marketed—particularly to children in and around schools—it will curb their demand for these drinks and products. This will also promote public health, which is the primary goal of this advocacy.”
The NGO expressed gratitude for “the remarkable efforts of its young advocates under the umbrella of the Healthy Food Policy Youth Vanguard (HFPYV) and the CAPPA Digital Media Volunteers (CAPPA DMV), who dedicated time and resources to conducting this offline survey.”
It also acknowledged the technical support and guidance provided by the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) team, which contributed to the development of the report.
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