Nigerian families are struggling to survive as food prices rise | Nigerian News

While inflation is rising worldwide as the global economy recovers from the coronavirus epidemic, rising prices are having a devastating effect on countries like Nigeria.

The number of people living in poverty in Nigeria – the most populous country in Africa with a population of 210 million – was already among the world’s largest population.

But as Nigeria has been hit by two economic crises over global oil prices and the epidemic, the World Bank says inflation and food prices have forced another 7 million people into poverty by 2021.

Food prices have risen more than 22% since the coronavirus epidemic began, according to government statistics.

For many, providing for their families becomes a daily challenge.

“Every day, when asked, there are five or seven children with malnutrition,” said Emiolo Ogunsola, head of the nutrition department at Massey Street Children’s Hospital in the poor state of Lagos Island.

“I spend a few months or a year, a lot of kids will be starving.”

Even before the epidemic and food insecurity increased, food insecurity in Nigeria was catastrophic: One in three Nigerian children became ill from malnutrition.

As a result, an estimated 17 million children in Nigeria suffer from malnutrition, making the country one of the leading causes of malnutrition in Africa and second in the world.