To commemorate World Obesity Day (WOD), Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has renewed its call for comprehensive healthy food policies to strengthen local diets and tackle the country’s rising obesity and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) burden.

A statement on Tuesday, by
Robert Egbe, Media & Communications Officer, CAPPA, said the civil society organisation (CSO) highlighted the alarming data on the global obesity scourge, saying it reinforced CAPPA’s advocacy for urgent measures to discourage Nigerians from excessively consuming sugary drinks, which are a risk factor for overweight and obesity.

These measures, CAPPA said, include raising the tax imposed on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages (SSB) Tax from the current N10, to N130 per litre or by any rate that is not less than 20 per cent of the product’s retail price.

World Obesity Day encourages practical solutions to help people achieve and maintain a healthy weight, undertake proper treatment, and reverse the obesity crisis.

CAPPA aligned with the WOD theme of “Changing Systems, Healthier Lives” which puts the onus on systems that influence the drivers of obesity and related chronic diseases to act.
The NGO noted that these include the food systems, healthcare services, governments, media, and workplaces and communities.

“These systems are directly or indirectly linked to the increasing rates of obesity,” said Akinbode Oluwafemi, CAPPA’s Executive Director.

The NGO argued that the case for speedy action is reinforced by the grim reality of local and global forecasts on diabetes.

According to the World Obesity Federation (WOF), 1.9 billion or 1 in 4 people will be living with obesity in 2035, costing the global economy about $4.32 trillion. This is twice the figure for 2010. Worse yet, there will be a 100 per cent increase in childhood obesity between 2020 and 2035, while 1 in 4 people are likely to be living with obesity by 2035.

“Ten years after the international health community set aside March 4 as World Obesity Day, it is disheartening to see a condition once thought to be more prevalent in wealthy nations, steadily creeping among populations in low- and middle-income countries, including Nigeria,” Akinbode said.
He noted that as of 2020, there were more than 21 million overweight and 12 million obese ‘persons in the Nigerian population aged 15 years or more, accounting for an age-adjusted prevalence of about 20 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, according to the National Library of Medicine.

CAPPA urged the government at all levels to pay attention to the worrisome practice of food corporations flooding the markets and grooming Nigerians with unhealthy, ultra-processed food products targeted at children and other classes of the country’s teeming youth population, to the detriment of their health and nutritious, indigenous diets.

Oluwafemi noted that these junk foods have been linked to overweight and obesity, adding that this unhealthy diet crisis is costing the country invaluable manpower and productivity loss due to hospitalisation and chronic disability of NCD victims.

Referencing The WHO, he added that obese children are at higher risk of developing serious health problems including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma and other respiratory problems, sleep disorders and liver disease.

“Childhood obesity also increases the risk of obesity, non-communicable diseases, premature death and disability in adulthood,” he added.

“Taking action on obesity is a critical step in reducing the burden of other chronic non-communicable diseases, hence the call for a raise in the SSB tax – a pro-health levy – to N130 per litre and the proceeds ploughed into the healthcare sector.”