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Impact of Globalization on Food Consumption, Health and Nutrition in Nigeria Kolawole Olayiwola1, Adedoyin Soyibo and Tola Atinmo

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Impact of Globalization on Food Consumption, Health and Nutrition in Nigeria Kolawole Olayiwola1, Adedoyin Soyibo and Tola Atinmo Globalization of food systems in developing countries: impact on food security and nutrition 99 Impact of globalization on food consumption, health and nutrition in Nigeria Kolawole Olayiwola1, Adedoyin Soyibo and Tola Atinmo INTRODUCTION Globalization refers to the way in which developments in one region can rapidly come to have significant consequences for the security and well-being of communities in quite distant regions of the globe. As there can be no island of prosperity in an ocean of economic instability, globalization expresses the widening scope, deepening impact and speeding up of interregional flows and networks of interaction within all realms of social activity from the cultural to the criminal (McGrew, 2000). Globalization is a force that can neither be halted nor ignored. This implies greater difficulties for countries trying to isolate themselves from the world marketplace. It offers growth prospects to national economies if they satisfy its requirements in terms of flexibility and competitiveness, which include designing and implementing domestic policies to meet global requirements (International Monetary Fund, 1997). It is argued that countries can be exposed to new technologies and ideas, which can create jobs, improve incomes and reduce poverty. This is predicted to have a positive influence on the health and nutritional status of people across the world. There is the presence of the perpetuation of social vulnerability (Bahalla and Lapeyre, 1999). Also, advances in information technology may have profound effects that directly influence health (Daulaire, 1999). The glamorization of self-serving and unsustainable lifestyles is one of the effects of the spread in information technology, which may negatively affect health status and worsen poverty. In Nigeria, the institution of various reforms, starting with the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) of 1986 and membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) placed the country under the umbrella of globalization. The resultant deterioration in the human development indices is a source of serious concern in the country. In absolute terms, the urban poverty level increased from 17.2 percent in 1980 to 58.3 percent in 1996 (Soyibo, Alayande and Olayiwola, 2001). The nutritional status of the average Nigerian remained precarious as the country consistently recorded deficit average per capita calorie intake. Food deficits of 31 percent and 20 percent in 1980 and 2000 respectively were recorded (Okojie et al., 2001). A number of pertinent questions come to mind in relation to the extent to which globalization has impacted on food consumption, health and nutrition in Nigeria and how the country can take advantage of globalization to improve the health and nutrition status of its people. These are some of the issues this paper addresses. 1 Kolawole Olayiwola Economic Policy Unit Development Policy Centre Ibadan, Nigeria Tel.: 234-802-350-4408 Fax: 234-281-03283 E-mail: [email protected] 100 Impact of globalization on food consumption, health and nutrition in Nigeria We also discuss the conceptual approach and methodology adopted by the paper, while highlighting Nigeria’s position in the globalizing world. We analyse the role of globalization on dietary change and lifestyles in Nigeria, trends in malnutrition in urban areas, and discuss trends in health status in the urban environment. Finally we examine government-sponsored nutrition programming in the country, and present our conclusions. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Conceptual framework for analysing linkages between globalization, food consumption, health and nutrition The framework focuses on the linkages between the different strands of globalization and components of poverty, nutrition and health as identified in the literature. Thus, it focuses on openness to international trade/trade agreements, capital flows, migration, information technology and technology diffusion and discusses how each of these can be linked to problems of poverty, nutritional and health status (Figure 1). The framework shows that openness to international trade will lead to greater integration into the global market which, in turn, could increase exports, output and income. This would reduce poverty by expanding the opportunities of the poor in terms of ownership or access to productive resources, infrastructure, financial services and social networks. It will also allow countries to concentrate on those activities in which they enjoy comparative advantage and subjects firms to healthy foreign competition. Therefore, the poor can gain from the advantages of trade liberalization by specializing in the production of goods that make use of their abundant, low-cost and unskilled labour. International trade agreements affect the health status and general well-being of people. For example, trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights allow access to essential life-saving drugs that are non-affordable by low-income countries, regardless of the level of their public health expenditure. Innovations as inspired by the duo of large market and intellectual property rights ensure adequate rewards of innovators. While trade can contribute to improved welfare through increased drug availability, the associated negative externality of possible infections carried across borders could adversely affect not only people’s health, but also their general well-being. With the employment generation potential of globalization, women are likely to become more involved in the labour force. The potential helpful or harmful effect this may have on child health is a subject needing more research, especially where adequate child care institutions are lacking. Migration can lead to improved nutritional and health status through movement of people across national borders, which is expected to ease labour bottlenecks and lead to transfer of technological knowledge. The process of globalization can help to improve the skills of the poor through technology diffusion and capital flows. Transnational migration may be a drain on the brain power of countries, but may also lead to significant cash remittances returning home. Globalization of food systems in developing countries: impact on food security and nutrition 101 FIGURE 1 Linkages between globalization, food consumption, health and nutrition GLOBALIZATION Openness (international Information Technology Capital flows Migration trade, trade technology diffusion agreements) Population health influences Public revenue World market (nutrition, drugs, health information, etc.) Health sector, Public sector Prices, income eduction sector, Nutrition transfer and employment etc. Health and Poverty nutrition status Methodological approach Globalization has an impact on various elements of the economy: international trade, capital flows, migration, communication and information technology as well as technology diffusion. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study, as yet, that has assessed the impact of globalization on food, nutrition and health in Nigeria. Accordingly, we shall adopt an indirect approach, by analysing the impact of globalization on these issues, in relation to policy development, generation of ideas and disparate intervention programmes in the country. As globalization is not new, some authors conceive of internationalization, liberalization and policy reforms as forms of globalization. We shall adopt a historical approach. The current globalization efforts are viewed to have started the liberalization and 102 Impact of globalization on food consumption, health and nutrition in Nigeria reforms efforts of SAP, which began in 1986. We have used secondary data and the results from many other studies in this paper. Data for our analysis are based on various publications of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), together with six major health and nutrition surveys conducted between 1990 and 2003. NIGERIA’S POSITION IN THE GLOBALIZING WORLD The dismal picture of Nigeria’s vulnerability to poverty in the globalizing era can be illustrated within the context of macroeconomic indicators. The Nigerian macroeconomic environment portends a picture that limits the ability of the poor to tap into economic opportunities of globalization that can free them from poverty. The balance of payments position is highly precarious in the face of huge external debt and debt servicing requirements (Table 1). This tends to limit the amount of resources available to revitalize the collapsing basic social and economic infrastructure. The country has also witnessed persistent high rates of inflation in the 1990s. Inflation contributes to the vulnerability of the population because it undermines investment and impedes economic growth. The capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector in the 1990s that hovered around 29 and 39 percent hindered the employment capacity of the sector. The consequence of this is the ballooning informal sector that provides as high as 75 percent of employment in Nigeria. The low level of government budgetary allocation to both health and education is also a clear indication that priority is not placed on activities that have direct links with health and nutritional status. Expenditure on health fell from 3.30 percent in 1995 to 2.92 percent in 2000, while the proportion of government expenditure to education also fell from 6.33 percent in 1995 to 3.33 percent in 1999, before it was increased to 5.87 percent. TABLE 1 Selected social
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