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•Citizens ignore concerns, opt for convenience diet with fast foods, pastries
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
By 6:30 every morning, Mercy Erdem is already on her way out of home. Her destination is Wuse 2, Abuja, where she is expected to resume by 7:30am. By the time she arrives, work begins almost immediately, leaving little time for a proper breakfast or even a relaxed lunch.
So, she buys snacks, meat pie, doughnuts and soft drinks. Sometimes-another pastry. And when a friend visits with shawarma, she adds that to what she has already eaten. It has become a routine she has struggled to break.
Erdem says she has noticed that she is gaining weight and is increasingly worried. Her job is largely sedentary, and by the time she returns home, she has little energy for exercise. Her story is not simply about a young woman who likes pastries. It is about how convenience can quietly become a diet.
In pAbuja, the pattern is easy to observe. At fast-food outlets, bakeries and roadside food points, workers rushing between appointments, students moving between classes and parents on school runs routinely reach for foods that require little waiting and almost no preparation.
Shawarma. Burgers. Pizza. Doughnuts. Meat pies. Fried chicken. Noodles. Sugary drinks. For many consumers, they are occasional treats. For others, they are becoming substitutes for proper meals. And nutritionists and doctors are increasingly concerned about what happens when that pattern becomes habitual.
And for Jayden Akor, a student at Bingham University, Abuja, and the problem is partly structural. Akor lives in the university hostel, where students are not allowed to cook. With classes beginning in the morning and extending into the afternoon, he said he often has little time or money to look for proper meals.
The convenient alternatives are pastries, noodles and soft drinks. Coke or another sugary drink can be followed by pastries simply because they are readily available and require little time. Over time, he said, the pattern became so regular that he felt he had become addicted to such foods.
It was during a holiday around June or July that he said his parents began commenting on changes they had noticed, including bloating and unnecessary weight gain.
Akor’s experience thus raises questions that go beyond personal discipline: what happens when young people live in environments where the cheapest, quickest and most accessible foods are also among the least nutritious?
Meanwhile, that tension between knowing what is healthy and choosing what is convenient is central to Nigeria’s emerging food story.
Children, already in the cycle
The concern becomes more disturbing when the pattern begins in childhood. At Chicken Capital in Wuse 2, Abuja, children and adolescents were among customers buying pastries, shawarma, burgers and pizza.
One of them, Camaro, said he liked the food despite repeated warnings from his parents. His mother said a previous hospital visit had raised concerns about her son’s weight and that a doctor had warned about the frequency with which he consumed such foods.
She said both parents had tried to discourage him, but that his preference for fast food had become difficult to control.
She recalled that his love for such foods started early. At the time, she thought she was doing the right thing by giving him what he wanted, believing she was providing “the best” for him. Now, she worries that the indulgence may have gone too far.
A similar scene played out at Drumsticks Restaurant on Aminu Kano Crescent, where three children of about 4, 6 and 8 years old who were obviously overweight and being picked up from school were observed rushing into the restaurant and choosing doughnuts, pizza, shawarma and other pastries.
Their caregiver said the children wanted the foods despite warnings from their family doctor about the possible implications for their health, growth and development.
A nutritionist, Priscilla Ahiegbe, believes parents must take greater responsibility for what children eat.
She said several people she had recently attended to were dealing with non-communicable diseases, with lifestyle and dietary habits featuring prominently in their health challenges.
She said she had recently placed about four clients under close dietary monitoring after their health deteriorated, and they reported prolonged consumption of unhealthy foods.
For some of them, she does more than recommend what they should eat. She prepares their meals and closely monitors their diets. What concerns her most, she said, is the age at which some health problems are appearing.
Priscilla said she had encountered relatively young people dealing with obesity, hypertension and other conditions commonly associated in public perception with older people.
She urged parents to pay closer attention to their children’s diets, and should share responsibility for ensuring that children do not routinely consume excessive amounts of sugary, salty, highly processed and refined foods.
She insisted that children should be introduced more deliberately to traditional and minimally processed foods instead of allowing their preferences to be dictated by what they see advertised, what their friends eat or what they can easily demand.
When warning reaches the hospital
Chinaza, who works a pharmacy store in Karshi, Abuja, said she had also begun noticing younger children presenting with health complaints she considered unusual for their age.
The experience prompted her to seek help from nutritionists to educate some of the children and their parents about healthier choices.
She said some initially resisted the advice, but she has continued to bring in an external nutritionist periodically to educate clients about food and drink choices.
She said the results had not been as extensive as she hoped, but some people were beginning to reconsider what they eat and drink.
She was particularly concerned about families with a history of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease or other non-communicable diseases who may underestimate the importance of lifestyle.
A consultant pediatrician, Dr. Ebeo Olehe, who works at a private hospital in Abuja and also provides services at an FCT hospital, said he too had become concerned about children whose weights appeared considerably high for their ages.
Ebeo said the issue sometimes became apparent when children’s weights were checked during routine clinical assessment and before medication was prescribed.
He recalled the case of a girl of about nine whose weight raised concern during a consultation.
According to him, her parents said she loved bread and could eat a full loaf in the morning before school. After returning home, rather than eating a balanced meal, she would often go for pastries, shawarma, pizza and burgers.
The doctor said the case raised concerns about the child’s dietary pattern and prompted him to advise the parents to monitor what she consumed.
Ebeo warned that persistent unhealthy dietary patterns and excess weight during childhood could increase the risk of health problems later in life, including hypertension and type 2 diabetes.
For endocrinologist Dr. Jewome Kazim, who is based in Ekiti State, the concern is equally about what today’s food choices could mean for tomorrow’s patients.
Kazim said he routinely encounter patients with health concerns during consultations, although he could not conclude from his own practice that there had been an unusual increase in cases.
He said he’s worried with the growing attraction of children and young people to pastries, salty foods, sugary drinks, carbonated drinks and other highly processed products.
He said he uses consultation sessions to educate patients whenever examinations raise concerns about their health.
In one case, Kazim said a patient’s clinical findings prompted him to explain the situation and provide medical advice. When the patient returned about two weeks later, he observed changes that encouraged him about the value of early intervention and lifestyle counselling.
Kazim said the greater challenge lies in preventing unhealthy dietary patterns from becoming entrenched among younger Nigerians.
Numbers behind the warning
The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) estimates that about three million Nigerian adults aged 20–79 were living with diabetes in 2024, giving Nigeria the largest absolute number of adults with diabetes in the IDF Africa Region. More worrying is the proportion that may not know they have the disease.
The IDF estimates that 78.7 per cent of Nigerian adults living with diabetes were undiagnosed in 2024, representing about 2.35 million people.
The federation further projects that the number of Nigerian adults aged 20–79 living with diabetes could reach 6.6 million by 2050. The burden extends beyond established diabetes.
IDF estimates indicate that about 9.5 million Nigerian adults had impaired glucose tolerance in 2024, while another eight million had impaired fasting glucose conditions associated with abnormal glucose regulation and increased risk of progressing to diabetes. The financial implications are already substantial.
The IDF estimated Nigeria’s diabetes-related health expenditure at about US$1.42 billion in 2024, while about 40,990 diabetes-attributable deaths occurred among adults aged 20–79. These figures do not mean that a meat pie, bottle of soft drink or plate of shawarma automatically causes diabetes. The concern is the pattern.
When highly processed, sugary or energy-dense foods are consumed frequently, while healthier meals, fruits and vegetables and physical activity are displaced, the resulting excess weight and metabolic changes can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. That distinction is important, according to the doctors
IDF highlighted that diabetes is influenced by multiple factors, including genetics, age, body weight, physical activity and other environmental and behavioural factors. But diet is one of the factors individuals and communities can potentially modify. And that makes prevention particularly important.
The tax question
According to Kazim, prevention should also extend to public policy. He supported Nigeria’s Sugar-Sweetened Beverage (SSB) tax, arguing that fiscal measures can form part of a broader strategy to address excessive sugar consumption while generating resources for public health.
Nigeria initially imposed a flat N10-per-litre excise duty on qualifying sugar-sweetened beverages. But health advocates criticised the arrangement, arguing that the revenue flowed into the government’s general Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) rather than being directly linked to health interventions.
In June 2026, the Senate passed an amendment seeking to replace the flat-rate duty with a levy based on retail prices and provide for part of the proceeds to support health promotion, disease prevention, primary healthcare and health insurance for poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
The Senate cited Nigeria Customs Service data showing that the existing SSB duty generated more than N108.6 billion between 2022 and September 2025. The measure was still going through the legislative process as of September 2026, with reports indicating that the bill was before the House of Representatives for concurrence.
For Kazim, the significance of the SSB tax is not simply the revenue it generates. He argues that if Nigerians cannot realistically be prevented from consuming the foods and drinks they prefer, government can at least use policy to discourage excessive consumption and prepare the health system for the consequences.
He wants revenue from the tax to be transparently deployed towards prevention, diagnosis and treatment of NCDs, including diabetes, hypertension and obesity. The argument comes against a health-financing system in which Nigerian households already shoulder a substantial share of medical costs.
The World Health Organization’s Africa Health Observatory reported in 2025 that out-of-pocket spending accounted for more than 75 per cent of total health expenditure in Nigeria, meaning that the consequences of unhealthy eating do not stop at the dinner table.
Eventually, they can arrive at the hospital and with them come bills that many families may struggle to pay.
Beyond individual willpower
From all indication, the unhealthy eating practice is rarely driven by one factor. For Mercy, it is the pressure of work and lack of time. For Akor, it is a university environment where cooking is prohibited and convenience foods are readily available. For Shamaka, it is proximity and routine.
For children like Camaro and the nine-year-old patient described by Ebeo, taste and habits formed early can be difficult to reverse. For parents, there is the tension between satisfying a child and protecting the child’s health. And for businesses, there is an obvious reality: people buy what they want, and convenient food is profitable. That makes the solution more complicated than simply telling Nigerians to “eat healthy.”
To this end, universities may need to examine the nutritional quality and affordability of foods available to students who cannot cook. Schools and parents need practical nutrition education. Workplaces can make healthier food and physical activity easier. Health professionals can strengthen screening and early intervention. Food businesses can contribute by expanding healthier options and providing clearer information to consumers.
Government, meanwhile, has a role in regulation, public education, and health financing and creating an environment in which healthier choices are not reserved for those who can afford them.
The IDF said its projection of 6.6 million Nigerians living with diabetes by 2050 is not a prediction of what must happen, but a warning about what could happen if the risk factors driving the burden are not adequately addressed, and the warning is arriving at a time when a younger generation is already developing its relationship with food.
