In a country still grappling with a fragile health system, environmental degradation, and a glaring lack of data-driven journalism, one corporate player is steadily demonstrating what it means to align business with national development goals. That player is Nestlé Nigeria Plc, and its efforts stretch far beyond what is commonly associated with a multinational food and beverage company.
From fortifying everyday meals with critical micronutrients to training journalists to better report on public health and environmental issues, and to leading Nigeria’s corporate charge against plastic pollution, Nestlé Nigeria is creating ripple effects across key sectors in ways that demand attention and commendation.
Nestlé Nigeria is not only in the business of feeding people, it is actively improving the nutritional quality of the food it puts on Nigerian tables.
At a time when over 44% of Nigerian children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition according to UNICEF, Nestlé’s decision to fortify its products with essential micronutrients like iron, vitamin A, iodine, and zinc is nothing short of lifesaving.
In 2025, at its “Nutrition for All Life Stages” conference held at the Agbara Factory, the company revealed that 95% of its food and beverage products sold in Nigeria are now fortified to meet at least 15% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of key nutrients.
Products like Golden Morn, a breakfast cereal made from locally sourced maize and soybeans, now include up to 20% RDA of iron and 25% of vitamin A per serving. Similarly, Maggi Seasoning Cubes, a staple in nearly every Nigerian home, are now enhanced with iron and iodine, addressing the prevalent micronutrient deficiency that plagues millions of Nigerians.
“Nutrition is not just about eating. It is about having access to nutritious, affordable, and culturally acceptable foods. Nestlé is ensuring that nutrition is available at scale, through foods that Nigerians already eat every day,” said Dr. Kanayo Olalokun, a nutritionist affiliated with the Nestlé Nutrition Institute.
Beyond fortification, the company runs the Nestlé for Healthier Kids (N4HK) programme, which has reached over 60,000 children across Nigeria with education on nutrition, hygiene, and active living. Implemented in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education and State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs), the programme targets school-aged children, shaping early healthy lifestyle habits.
Nestlé Nigeria is also doing something many multinationals do not bother with: training Nigerian journalists to report health, nutrition, and environmental issues with accuracy and depth.
Since 2014, through its partnership with the Lagos Business School Sustainability Centre (LBSSC), the company has been hosting an annual capacity-building workshop titled, “Advancing Nutrition, Health, and Environmental Awareness through the Media.”
This intensive training includes modules on sustainable food systems, fact-based reporting, data journalism, and field exposure to Nestlé’s operational facilities. Participants, drawn from newspapers, radio, television, and digital platforms, are adequately equipped to report complex development issues that go beyond politics and crime. The training, for its 2025 edition, is ongoing.
In August 2023, over 37 journalists from across the country participated in the programme. Later, in December 2024, the company took it a notch higher by organizing a specialized training for senior editors and media executives, people who shape newsroom priorities.
Since the company birthed the programme, not a few journalists have testified to its impactfulness, unanimously agreeing that it is not just theory as it provides fieldwork and real-time environmental case studies. In fact, the programme has elevated the reporting of those who have so far benefitted from the programme.
Prof. Chris Ogbechie, Dean of Lagos Business School, added in the training programme in 2023 said: “Our collaboration with Nestlé is building the capacity of journalists to hold institutions accountable, share facts, and ultimately influence public behavior.”
Against the foregoing testimonials, not a few observers of the company have unanimously agreed that with this initiative, Nestlé is filling a gaping hole in Nigeria’s media landscape, one where development journalism often plays second fiddle to sensational headlines.
In fact, in an era where Nigerian streets, gutters, and rivers are choked with plastic waste, Nestlé Nigeria has taken an impressive stand.
In 2024, Nestle became the first company in Nigeria to achieve full plastic neutrality, meaning it recovered and recycled as much plastic as it put into the market. This remarkable feat earned it the SERAS Award for Best in Circular Economy and solidified its leadership on corporate environmental responsibility.
Through its active role in the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) and partnerships with NGOs like Africa Cleanup Initiative, the company facilitated plastic waste collections in major cities. At the Iyana Ipaja and Mushin markets, for example, Nestlé staff teamed up with community volunteers and local governments to collect over 6.6 tonnes of solid waste and nearly 80 kg of recyclable materials in a single day in November 2023.
“We are committed to not just minimizing our footprint, but actively reversing it. Plastic neutrality is not a slogan for us. It is a measurable, ongoing reality,” said Victoria Uwadoka, Corporate Communications, Public Affairs and Sustainability Lead, Nestle Nigeria.
Beyond waste, Nestlé has made significant investments in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) infrastructure. In Ogun State, where the company’s factory is located, Nestlé has commissioned 18 WASH facilities across public schools, ensuring that over 4,000 students and teachers now have access to clean water and functional toilets.
According to Mr. Abayomi Arigbabu, Commissioner for Education in Ogun State: “Nestlé’s WASH initiative has improved hygiene, attendance, and overall learning outcomes. This is the kind of corporate involvement we need in education.”
The company estimates that its water projects now deliver over 14 million litres of safe water annually, and all in communities that would otherwise be dependent on unsafe, untreated sources.
Nestlé’s impact extends into rural Nigeria, where it has empowered thousands of smallholder farmers, especially women, through its Dairy Development Programme and grain sourcing initiatives.
The company now works with over 41,000 maize and soya farmers, offering training, improved inputs, and guaranteed off-take agreements that provide income security and reduce poverty.
In 2023 alone, 1,000 women in the dairy sector were supported through training, veterinary care, and milk collection services. By strengthening these local supply chains, Nestlé is contributing to national food security and agricultural self-sufficiency.
On the youth front, Nestlé Nigeria runs a Technical Training Programme at its Agbara and Abaji factories, where young Nigerians undergo a rigorous 18-month programme in electrical maintenance, instrumentation, and automation. The company reports that over 150 young graduates have gone on to secure employment or start their own businesses.
All of these efforts, health, environment, media empowerment, youth and women support, are not happening in isolation. Nestlé Nigeria has strategically aligned its operations with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially: SDG 2: Zero Hunger, SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production and SDG 13: Climate Action
It is not every day that a multinational company tailors its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to the real, gritty challenges of its host country, in this case, Nigeria. Yet Nestlé Nigeria is walking that path deliberately, responsibly, and with concrete results.
As a final word in this context, Nestle Nigeria’s corporate attitude to business is not just corporate talk, it is tangible action. Let us not get it twisted: Nestlé, like any global company, operates in a profit-driven ecosystem and has been subject to its fair share of global scrutiny, particularly on sugar content and infant nutrition products. The Nigerian public must remain watchful and critical.
However, to ignore Nestlé Nigeria’s genuine impact across health, media, and the environment would be intellectually dishonest. It has created a working model for corporate sustainability that other multinationals and indigenous companies alike would do well to emulate.
From the foods we eat, to the air we breathe, to the news we consume, Nestlé Nigeria’s footprint is measurable, impactful, and increasingly indispensable.
