Strengthen food safety rules to curb diseases, Reps urge FG

The House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to strengthen food safety regulations and enhance their implementation to address the escalating wave of foodborne diseases across Nigeria. The resolution followed a motion highlighting the urgent need to tackle the increasing rate of these illnesses and raise public awareness.

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Commendable is Nigeria’s 2025 State Party Annual Report score of Level 3, which is a testament that Nigeria surpassed the WHO benchmark and became one of the leading nations in Sub-Saharan Africa with functional systems for detecting, reporting, and responding to foodborne disease outbreaks.

Edo lawmaker Mr. Billy Osawaru, who brought the motion, referenced a World Health Organization report stating that unsafe food causes approximately 866 million illnesses and 1.5 million deaths globally each year, with Africa bearing a significant burden. While acknowledging Nigeria's efforts under Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 12, and the mandates of NAFDAC and the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Osawaru pointed out persistent challenges.

He noted that factors such as chemical hazards, poor hygiene among food handlers, open defecation, lack of potable water, weak regulatory enforcement by NAFDAC and SON, and inadequate market and abattoir infrastructure contribute to the problem. These issues lead to the loss of tens of thousands of healthy lives annually due to exposure to contaminated food.

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Aware that chemical hazards, poor hygiene among food handlers, open defecation, lack of good potable water, especially in rural areas, weak regulatory enforcement by NAFDAC and SON, and inadequate infrastructure in the market and abattoirs are the major factors leading to loss of tens of thousands of healthy lives owing to their exposure to affected foods and perhaps getting contaminated.

Despite government commitments, Nigeria reportedly suffers from around 50 million foodborne diseases and over 53,000 deaths yearly, resulting in an estimated 4.26 million healthy life years lost. The lawmaker also highlighted the significant economic impact, with Nigeria losing an estimated $3.6 billion annually due to foodborne illnesses through lost productivity, medical expenses, and trade limitations.

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Nigeria still accounts for high number of approximately 50m foodborne diseases and more than 53,000 deaths caused by unsafe food yearly, leading to the aggregate number of 4.26m healthy life lost annually to ill health, disability and premature death due to foodborne disease, with over 80 per cent of these predominately children below the age of five.