Former Vice President and presidential candidate of African Action Congress (ADC), Atiku Abubakar, has criticised the Bola Tinubu administration over Nigeria’s worsening child-malnutrition crisis.
Atiku said the crisis had gone beyond the inability of families to meet basic household expenses, warning that inadequate access to nutritious food was threatening the growth and future of millions of Nigerian children.
He described the latest figures as a disturbing manifestation of the country’s cost-of-living challenges.
His position followed the release of fresh nutrition figures showing that 41.1 per cent of Nigerian children under five are stunted, with 19.2 per cent severely stunted. The prevalence rises to 58.2 per cent in the North-West, according to findings from the 2025–26 Nigeria Mini Demographic and Health Survey.
Nutrition experts also reported that nearly two million children are living with severe acute malnutrition, with only about two in every 10 receiving treatment.
Reacting in a statement issued on Thursday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku linked the nutrition crisis to the pressure of rising food, transportation and energy costs on Nigerian households.
“This is the most heartbreaking face of the cost-of-living crisis. Behind every statistic is a Nigerian mother struggling to decide what her children can eat, how much they can eat and how often they can eat.
“A child does not understand inflation figures. A child only knows whether there is food on the table,” he said.
Atiku said the latest nutrition data should concern policymakers, arguing that the consequences of inadequate diets were increasingly becoming visible in the health and development of Nigerian children.
His comments came as the National Bureau of Statistics reported that food inflation stood at 19.57 per cent year-on-year in August 2026, although the rate moderated from 20.31 per cent in July.
The former vice president argued that high energy and transportation costs ultimately feed into the prices of food and other essential goods.
“When fuel becomes expensive, transporting tomatoes from the farm becomes expensive. Taking rice to the market becomes expensive. Moving children to school becomes expensive. Running the neighbourhood grinding machine becomes expensive. Powering the small shop becomes expensive.
“And eventually, the additional cost arrives at the dinner table,” he said.
Atiku also restated his proposal for a production-based petroleum intervention, insisting that it would not amount to a return to the former system of subsidising imported petrol.
According to him, his proposal would provide targeted support tied to crude refined domestically, with the intervention capped, transparently budgeted and independently audited.
“My position is straightforward: support what Nigeria produces and refines, lower domestic production costs, and ensure that the benefit reaches the Nigerian consumer.
“This is not an import subsidy. If you do not refine in Nigeria, you do not qualify. The subsidy follows the barrel refined in Nigeria. Produce here. Refine here. Create jobs here. Pay less here,” he said.
Atiku said lowering energy costs should be viewed as part of a wider strategy to reduce the cost of production, transportation and food distribution.
He added that government should simultaneously expand treatment for severely malnourished children, strengthen maternal and child nutrition programmes and ensure that allocated nutrition funds reach communities.
The former vice president said economic policies should ultimately be measured by their impact on households, particularly their ability to afford food and other basic necessities.
“We cannot build a strong country on the bodies of hungry children.
“We cannot celebrate economic statistics while mothers are cutting meals and children are denied the nutrition they require to grow,” he said.
Atiku said his objective was to lower energy costs, reduce transportation and production expenses, strengthen domestic production and restore household purchasing power.
“My objective is clear: lower the cost of energy, lower transportation and production costs, strengthen Nigerian production, restore purchasing power and give families breathing room again.
“I will make life affordable again,” he said.
