By JKNewsMedia
STRONGER GOVERNMENT regulation of unhealthy food products, improved access to nutritious local foods and expanded primary healthcare services are needed to curb Nigeria’s growing diabetes burden, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), has urged.
JKNewsMedia.com reports that the organisation made the call as the world marks World Diabetes Day 2026 on November 14, with the theme, “Early Action on Diabetes”, stressing that prevention must extend beyond medical screening and treatment to addressing the commercial and structural factors influencing Nigerians’ dietary choices.
A statement e-signed by Robert Egbe, CAPPA’s Media and Communications Officer, notes that the organisation said meaningful early action requires transforming the country’s food environment to ensure that healthy, nutritious and culturally appropriate whole foods remain affordable and accessible to citizens before diet-related illnesses develop.
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) identifies Nigeria as having the highest number of adults aged 20 to 79 living with diabetes in Africa.
Also, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has also warned that nearly three in four adults with diabetes across the continent remain undiagnosed, exposing millions to complications including kidney failure, blindness, stroke and amputations.
The financial consequences are equally concerning, with Nigerian households estimated to spend N1.92 trillion annually out-of-pocket on treating diet-related non-communicable diseases, CAPPA argues.
Speaking, CAPPA Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said diabetes prevention should not be reduced to personal discipline or individual willpower, arguing that aggressive marketing, misleading product claims and the affordability of unhealthy foods increasingly influence consumption patterns.
He said commercial interests frequently take precedence over public health, making it difficult for individuals to maintain healthy diets within an environment dominated by unhealthy food products.
He also cited findings from its 2025 report, Junk On Our Plates, which documented aggressive and deceptive marketing strategies by food and beverage corporations across seven Nigerian states.
CAPPA’s report further identified the promotion of ultra-processed products high in sugar and sodium, alongside advertising targeting children, young people and low-income communities as it also highlighted misleading nutrition labels, the appropriation of cultural symbols and celebrity endorsements as strategies used to promote such products.
“We cannot keep telling Nigerians to eat healthily while allowing unhealthy food and beverages to dominate our markets, schools, advertisements and public spaces. Early action on diabetes must begin with enacting and implementing strong regulatory policies that make healthy choices possible, affordable and accessible, not simply with advising people to change their dietary behaviour,” Oluwafemi said.
To address the growing burden, CAPPA outlined five priority areas for government intervention, beginning with the finalisation and enforcement of a proposed Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) tax.
It adds that following the Senate’s passage of the SSB tax review bill earlier in 2026, the organisation urged the House of Representatives and the Executive to conclude the legislative process and establish an inflation-adjusted excise tax of at least 20 per cent of the final retail price, consistent with WHO recommendations.
Furthermore, CAPPA is demanding transparent allocation of the revenue generated to prevention, control and management of diet-related non-communicable diseases as it asserts that the funds should support primary healthcare, diabetes screening, subsidies for healthy local foods and other nutrition programmes.
Oluwafemi also called on the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMHSW) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to accelerate the introduction of mandatory Front-of-Pack Warning Labels on pre-packaged products containing high levels of sugar, sodium and unhealthy fats.
It argued that consumers should have straightforward access to nutritional information rather than struggle to interpret small and obscured print on product packaging.
“Consumers have a fundamental right to know what is in their food without having to decode tiny, obscured print on the back of packages, as is currently the case,” the statement said.
CAPPA also urged the government to prohibit predatory food marketing, particularly advertisements targeting children and adolescents, and restrict the use of child actors in food and beverage commercials.
It called for statutory restrictions on the marketing and sponsorship of sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods to young audiences across television, digital platforms and public spaces, adding that that state governments should enforce federal public food procurement guidelines, ensuring that schools, hospitals and other public institutions provide nutritious meals instead of ultra-processed products.
Another priority, CAPPA said, is protecting public health policymaking from interference by the ultra-processed food industry, including misleading health claims and what it described as healthwashing, while warning against industry efforts to promote voluntary self-regulation and the use of selected micronutrients to create the impression that unhealthy products have become nutritious.
The health-focused NGO specifically again, questioned the push for mandatory bouillon cube fortification in Nigeria, arguing that adding micronutrients to products high in sodium does not eliminate their underlying nutritional concerns.
“Adding selected micronutrients to a sugary drink or a high-sodium bouillon cube does not erase excessive sugar, salt or other nutritional concerns. Fortification must never become a marketing licence to disguise unhealthy products or undermine policies that seek to reduce their consumption,” CAPPA said.
The fifth priority focuses on strengthening primary healthcare and supporting local food production.
CAPPA urged federal and state governments to increase budgetary allocations for Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC), equipping them to provide free or subsidised blood glucose testing and essential medicines. It also advocated support for local insulin production.
It further called for agricultural incentives to be redirected towards smallholder farmers producing indigenous fruits, vegetables and whole grains, arguing that stronger local food systems would support access to healthier diets.
Reiterating the urgency of government intervention, Oluwafemi said diabetes was not inevitable and that prevention must address the commercial practices making unhealthy diets increasingly difficult to avoid.
“On this World Diabetes Day, we call on Nigerian lawmakers and regulators to choose the health and productivity of our people over the profit margins of ultra-processed food corporations,” he added.
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