THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOOD SECURITY AND EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between food security and educational outcomes among Nigerian households between 1999 to 2022. It adopted econometric tools of analysis and found that there was a feedback effect from the longrun relationship to the shortrun dynamics of the model, though at a very sluggish rate. Similarly, it was found that food insecurity was one of the major obstacles to households’ educational pursuit during the period examined. This conclusion was reached on the background that, most Nigerian families, being peasants, produce so little that their output often is too inconsequential to generate the needed funds which should have served as impetus for enhancing the learning outcomes of their offspring. In the same vein, it was found that several households faced the challenge of food insecurity, given the drastic fall in their purchasing power, hence their quest for adequate and recommended nutrition was grossly undermined, with the potential to further downgrade their learning capability and hence the outcomes. This is also given the fact that families bedevilled by such low-level nutritional needs suffer acute deficiency in learning, as they exhibit low intelligence quotient and thus their educational performance is undermined. These findings are bolstered by the views of Woolf (2016) who opined that, "one cannot think clearly, reason well, love well, or sleep well until one has dined properly." Hence to this connection; the study concluded that learning outcomes among Nigerian households was grossly impeded due to food insecurity and other sundry factors like low income during the referenced periods and therefore recommended that, the Nigerian government should evolve policies that will assist intending farmers to increase their productivity and maximise the gains of farming as feedback mechanism to education; secondly, creating formal employment opportunities and income-generating activities for all qualified Nigerians holds the potential for improved income that would enhance households’ access to adequate and nutritious food, with consequential effect on their capacity for absorption in schools for enhanced learning outcomes.