CAPPA says Nigeria’s salt reduction policy is under threat, warns weak media scrutiny may allow corporate interference to derail reforms.
Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) has warned that the efforts of the federal government in tackling excessive salt intake in food are at risk of derailment if the media fails to hold powerful corporations accountable for interfering in these policies.
Its Executive Director, Akinbode Oluwafemi gave the warning at a one-day Journalism Training on Salt Reduction, Nutrient Profile Models (NPM) and Front of Pack Warning Label (FOPWL) in Nigeria.
He said across Nigeria, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have become an urgent public health crisis, accounting for about 29 per cent of all annual deaths.
Oluwafemi stressed that the most prevalent of these conditions include cardiovascular diseases especially hypertension, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases.
He added that hypertension, for instance, now affects roughly 30 per cent of all adults in the country, according to the 2025 State of Health of the Nation Report, remains a major concern.
The Executive Director noted that one of the leading risk factors for NCDs is excessive salt intake, which is often found in prepackaged and ultra-processed foods.
He pointed out that these unhealthy products are aggressively marketed, including to children, by powerful food corporations whose motive is profit, no matter the cost to our health.
