Nigeria struggles with two deadly health challenges: millions of children are starving even as contaminated food kills others. UNICEF reports that malnutrition underlies roughly 45% of all deaths of children under five in the country. Nationwide, about 32% of young children are chronically stunted, and around two million suffer from severe acute malnutrition. In Northern states filled with conflict, the crisis is especially dire. Doctors Without Borders staff say they are overwhelmed; its Maiduguri feeding center admitted 1,250 malnourished children in April 2024, double the number from the previous year. Across seven northern states in 2023, the organization found more than 52,000 children with severe malnutrition, and heartbreakingly, 2,693 of them died and aid workers warn that every child who dies of hunger is a preventable tragedy.

Even when families manage to find food, it is not always safe to eat. Food safety scandals have become horrifyingly common. Last August in rural Kano, a widowed mother fed her five children a local cassava meal, known as Danwake, made with expired flour. Hours later, the mother and all five children collapsed and died after eating it. Incidents like this are not uncommon. Officials estimate that more than 200,000

Nigerians die each year from food poisoning, mostly children. Contamination lurks in markets and kitchens and authorities have reported that some cooks use industrial substances to process food. Nigeria’s innovation minister warned about the “unethical use of paracetamol to tenderize meat, detergents for cassava, and adulteration of red palm oil with toxic dyes like Sudan IV.” Such dangerous shortcuts have deadly consequences, including kidney failure and cancer, especially among poor families who cannot afford safer alternatives.

Recent data show that roughly 20% of hospital admissions in Nigerian cities are linked to food-borne illnesses. Every year, the country loses an estimated $3.6 billion to these diseases. Experts say weak oversight is to blame. Regulators like NAFDAC lack the resources to inspect all foods, and food safety laws are poorly enforced. Even government ministers have called the deliberate sale of poisonous food a crime, but enforcement remains weak. Corruption and poverty allow tainted food to circulate freely, leaving the poorest, especially those in rural villages and crowded urban slums, to pay the highest price.

Malnutrition and food contamination feed off each other. Undernourished children have weaker immune systems, making them even more vulnerable to toxins and disease. In Zamfara and Sokoto states, hundreds of children fell ill in 2024 from mysterious symptoms. Investigations later revealed dangerously high levels of lead, arsenic, mercury, and cadmium in their bodies, likely from polluted water and soil.

In addition, there is growing alarm both locally and internationally. Humanitarian groups and health experts warn that Nigeria is on the brink of a public health catastrophe. As one aid worker said, “We have a crisis at hand—those kids that are severely malnourished desperately need treatment.” The failures are no accident. Years of underfunding health programs, climate shocks, and insecurity that push families off their farms have been made worse by weak regulation. For too many parents, every meal feels like a gamble between nourishment and danger.
In conclusion, more investment is needed in nutrition programs, clean water, and hunger relief so that no mother has to cook spoiled grain to feed her child. The government must also take strong action against counterfeit and toxic food products. Only strong reforms can stop food from killing Nigeria’s children. Without change, each malnourished child or poisoned family will remind the world how quickly food can turn from sustenance to scourge. The time to act is now, because the lives and futures of millions of Nigerian children depend on it.