Nigeria Gets 285-Indicator Dashboard to Track Food Security and Nutrition

ABUJA, NIGERIA  —  Nigeria now has a national food systems dashboard with 285 indicators to track food security and nutrition across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) said, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). The Nigeria food systems dashboard was presented in Abuja on 5 November.

Miracle Owolawi, Policy and Advocacy Associate at GAIN, described the tool at the Sahel Changemakers Conference 2026. It provides national and state-level data drawn from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), agricultural performance surveys and the National Living Standards Survey, with historical trends from 2018 and updates to 2025.

How the Nigeria food systems dashboard works

A food systems dashboard brings together data on what is grown, how food moves through markets, what it costs, what people eat and how well nourished they are. With 285 indicators, the Nigeria food systems dashboard is designed to let policymakers see how farming, prices, diets and health outcomes are connected in each state.

Joyce Akpata, Head of Policy and Advocacy at GAIN, said the agriculture ministry has budgeted for the dashboard for three years. GAIN is working with the NBS and the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning on a management framework, and a stakeholder advisory group and technical team have been set up to build capacity for an eventual handover to government.

Akpata warned that the tool must be kept current. “An un-updated dashboard loses its usefulness,” she said.

Linking climate, food and health

Dr James Adamu, Technical Assistant to the Director-General of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), called for an integrated data-sharing framework based on key performance indicators. He said NiMet runs an online mapping platform that gives location-specific climate information and crop suitability assessments, including for maize.

The NiMet platform also covers health, water resources and disaster risks such as malaria, meningitis and dry spells, according to the report. Weather and climate shape both harvests and disease patterns, so combining these data with food indicators could help authorities anticipate shortages and outbreaks.

Uko Ekott, Country Representative of the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD), urged greater community participation in policy design, saying communities can “contribute local evidence and traditional knowledge.” He cited a project in Plateau State where communities used traditional food storage methods, and warned that overlapping mandates among ministries create conflict and undermine development investment.

Why nutrition data matter for health

Nigeria faces a double burden of malnutrition, with both undernutrition and obesity rising in different groups. Many children are stunted or wasted because of poor diets, infections and food insecurity, while overweight, diabetes and high blood pressure are increasing among adults, especially in cities.

Malnutrition weakens children’s immune systems and makes common illnesses such as diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria more deadly. Humanitarian agencies have reported rising admissions for severe acute malnutrition in the North-East this year, and the federal government has announced partnerships to mobilise funding for child nutrition.

Food prices have also risen sharply in recent years, making nutritious foods such as eggs, fish, vegetables and fruit harder for many families to afford. Data on prices and diets by state can help target support, such as school feeding, cash transfers or fortified foods, to the areas where need is greatest.

For people living with chronic conditions, food security is part of treatment. Patients with diabetes, hypertension, kidney disease or HIV need regular, balanced meals to stay well and to take some medicines safely, and rising food costs can push them to skip meals or medicines.

Pregnant women and young children are also especially sensitive to food insecurity, since poor nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life can affect growth and development for years. Data on diets in each state can help health services decide where to focus nutrition counselling and supplementation.

From data to decisions

Dashboards are only useful if they inform decisions. Experts say the test will be whether federal and state officials use the Nigeria food systems dashboard to plan agriculture budgets, nutrition programmes and emergency responses, and whether data are released on time and in a form that local governments can use.

Data quality is another challenge. Some indicators depend on household surveys that are expensive and conducted only every few years, so the dashboard will need regular survey funding as well as routine administrative data from ministries and agencies.

GAIN said capacity building will continue ahead of a handover to government. The success of the Nigeria food systems dashboard will depend on sustained funding after the initial three-year budget and on coordination among the many ministries involved in food, health and planning.

 

 

Why it matters: State-level food and nutrition data can help Nigeria target help to malnourished children and families squeezed by rising food prices.

 

 

Source: News Agency of Nigeria (Michael Ajayi),  November 2026.