Oluchi Okechukwu had always believed that blood on her body could only mean she had fallen or scraped her knee. That is what a seven-year-old believes. Blood means you fell down. Blood means mummy will clean it and put plaster. Blood does not mean you have started menstruating.

But Oluchi started menstruating at seven. Dr. Busayo Awolola, a public health physician quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria in February 2026, where Okechukwu’s story was reported, explained that this is precocious puberty, the early activation of hormonal signals from the brain, and that menstruation at seven is definitely precocious and needs careful evaluation. In Nigeria, the normal age of first menstruation is between 13 and 14 years, according to the same report. Oluchi was six years early. Six years stolen.

She is not alone. A seven-year retrospective review conducted at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital examined children who presented with early-onset puberty between 2015 and 2021. The study confirmed that precocious puberty, though uncommon, does occur among Nigerian children. A review published in the Ibom Medical Journal in January to March 2026 reported 24 children with precocious puberty in that Calabar review, with a median age of 5.5 years. Five years old. A child who has not yet started primary school properly.

Globally, research titled “Precocious Puberty: An Overview of Global Trends and Patterns” estimates that the condition occurs in roughly one in every 5,000 to 10,000 children worldwide and is far more common in girls than boys.

The same review confirms that in the majority of cases, the cause is idiopathic, meaning the brain’s hormonal switch turns on too early for reasons that remain unknown.

In Port Harcourt, at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, a review of 178 children with endocrine disorders between January 2013 and August 2017 found pubertal disorders were the commonest, 34 cases, 17%.

The authors noted most investigations were only available in private laboratories with high cost, leading to loss to follow-up. That finding is important, and we present it with respect. It shows doctors in Port Harcourt are seeing these children, but families often cannot afford to complete the investigation.

That is the same family that must then go to Mile 3 market and decide what to cook that night. They cannot afford the lab test. They also cannot afford to throw food away. That is where this story leaves the hospital and enters the market.

I am a journalist in Port Harcourt. I go to Mile 3 market. I have listened to mothers there, tired and afraid, trying to explain in Pidgin what they feel when they learn what may be in the chicken. I will not put a made-up quote in one woman’s mouth and pretend she said it to me on a named date. I did not record one named woman saying this line.

What I am giving you here is my summary, as the author, of a sentiment I have heard repeatedly in that market: a mother does not know she may be buying medicine along with her child’s food. I am not presenting it as a research finding. I am presenting it as what mothers describe as guilt, in my words, based on what I heard.

Because that guilt is real. Every mother who has bought broiler for her child will feel it when she reads this. Did I cause this? Did I feed my child medicine? That question is emotional, but the answer must be scientific. And science says: we do not yet know if broiler alone causes early puberty.

That is the most important limit in this story. Science has not proven that broiler chicken alone causes early puberty in Nigeria. No published Nigerian study has followed a large group of girls who eat broiler regularly and a comparison group who do not, and measured who developed early puberty. Until such a study exists, any link must be described as a possible contribution, not as proof.

A second correction is also needed, because mothers are being blamed for the wrong thing. Many people believe farmers inject broilers with growth hormones or steroids. The scientific reviews are clear on this point. International authorities including the FAO, WHO, FDA, and European Commission have repeatedly clarified that neither broiler chickens nor laying hens are given growth or production hormones. A review on misinformation about hormone use in poultry found that 70 to 90 percent of respondents in Asia and Europe believe hormones are added to broilers, often associating poultry meat and eggs with early puberty, hormonal imbalance, and cancer, but that no hormone products are approved or used in broiler chickens or commercial laying hens. The review found that modern broilers grow fast because of decades of systematic genetic selection, supported by precision-based nutrition and management, rather than hormone use. A study by Havenstein and colleagues showed modern broilers reach market weight nearly twice as fast as birds from the 1950s when fed the same diets.

The documented problem in Nigeria is not injected hormones. It is antibiotics in feed and water, and residues left because the withdrawal period was not observed. And that problem is emotional too, because it is about a mother trying to do the right thing, and a system failing her.

Colistin is a last-resort antibiotic. It is the drug doctors keep for when nothing else works. The National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control has banned the use of colistin as an antibiotic in animal feed in Nigeria, according to a regulatory directive reported on 9 November 2023. NAFDAC said colistin was banned because of its contribution to global antimicrobial resistance and its nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity in humans.

We acknowledge NAFDAC’s action. We also acknowledge, from a Wellcome Open Research paper published in February 2026, that Nigeria has monitored antimicrobial use in animals for nine years through WOAH ANIMUSE, and NAFDAC used that data to develop directives prohibiting antibiotics as growth promoters, prohibiting banned veterinary pharmaceuticals, banning colistin as coccidiostat in animal feed, and prohibiting importation of fixed-dose combinations. That is a record of regulatory intent, and we report it fairly.

The gap, according to published farm surveys, is between directive and practice on some farms. A study by Adebowale and his team at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, went to 48 integrated fish and chicken farms in Lagos and Ogun between May and September 2023 and asked farmers what they use. The study found at least ten different classes of antibiotics. In poultry, according to that study, 89.4 percent used enrofloxacin, 80.9 percent used oxytetracycline, 78.7 percent used doxycycline and tylosin, and 63.8 percent used colistin. Many of those drugs are on the World Health Organization’s list of highest priority critically important antimicrobials for humans.

We present this not as an accusation against all farmers, but as a finding from that survey, in that place, in that time, which shows why enforcement and farmer support must go together.

We also present the farmer’s perspective, from published interviews, with the same respect we give to mothers. Haruna Ismail, a farmer in Yola-South, told NAN on 1 November 2026 that day-old chicks rose from N980-N1,050 in 2025 to N2,270, feed from N16,000-N18,000 to N21,600-N23,000, and medicine sachets from N400-N800 to N1,800-N2,000.

Shettima Isa, a farmer in Tum, told NAN: “This is increasingly becoming unbearable because you will spend huge money on feeds and vaccines and end up selling the broiler for between N8,000 and N12,000.”

Godwin Dedan, a farmer and feed dealer, called for subsidised feed ingredients, local maize and soybean production, affordable feed-milling, and low-interest loans. Peace Samuel warned that delayed treatment could lead to high mortality and financial loss.

These are real farmers, speaking in their own words to NAN, not composites. Their words explain why a farmer may find it difficult to observe a two to three week withdrawal period, even when he wants to. If that farmer waits, he loses money. If he does not wait, your child eats the residue.

Dr. Joseph Onwualu, Technical Committee Chairman of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, FCT Chapter, told the News Agency of Nigeria that farmers should stop antibiotics two to three weeks before sales for consumption, to safeguard human health and reduce antimicrobial resistance burden.

He said animal antibiotic use can affect humans through consumption of antibiotic residues in meat, which then provides selection pressure in favour of antibiotic-resistant bugs in humans. He also said most poultry farmers did not observe the withdrawal period, and blamed it on ignorance of the effects on humans.

Dr. Sati Ngulukun, Director at the National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, told Leadership: “Farmers just go to the market or chemist, buy antibiotics, and give them to their livestock, poultry, or fish without considering the dosage or withdrawal period.”

We include this not to blame farmers, but to show the system of over-the-counter sales that makes good practice difficult.

The price and availability of colistin, from publicly listed Nigerian veterinary shops, helps explain that system. Farmerscentre lists allegedly Moosun Colistin Sulphate 6000 at N4,500, Centre Colistin Sulphate 100g at N2,300, and Colmore Colistin Oral Powder at N3,700, all listed as in stock.

We cite these listings not to accuse the sellers, but to show that a last-resort drug is easily accessible at low cost, which makes regulation and farmer education more urgent.

Other published surveys support that statement. A study in Kaduna State found that none of the 10 farms studied observed drug withdrawal period. Two eggs, 1 percent, and 82 of 378 slaughtered chicken faeces, 21.8 percent, were positive for antibacterial drug residues. Broilers had a significantly higher incidence, 33.1 percent, for antibacterial substances at slaughter than layers, 23.6 percent, and local chicken, 4.8 percent.

When scientists test chicken in Nigerian markets, they often find the drug still inside it, in that study, in that market, in that year. In Nsukka, researchers collected swabs from 250 day-old chicks distributed to farmers and found that 38 percent already carried colistin-resistant E. coli, and 24.8 percent carried tigecycline-resistant E. coli, another last-line drug. They were one day old. They were born resistant. Think about that. A chick that has lived for one day, and already carries bacteria that no last-resort drug can kill. That is not a farm problem. That is a future problem for every child who will ever need antibiotics.

In Southeast Nigeria, another team collected 785 samples from chickens in 17 farms and found 48 colistin-resistant bacteria, 23 of them carrying the mcr-1 gene, a gene that can jump from one bacterium to another.

In Enugu, researchers tested 100 broilers from Artisan, Gariki and Ogbete markets and found antimicrobial residues in 64 percent of them. Kidney had 60 percent. Liver had 54 percent. Gizzard had 30 percent. That liver and gizzard, the sweetest part, the part mothers buy because their children love it, is also the part where, according to the study, the drug hides most.

In Kano, 43 percent of broilers tested positive in one study. In Ibadan, 53.87 percent of 297 samples of imported frozen, locally produced frozen, and freshly slaughtered chicken tested positive.

In Keffi, researchers from Nasarawa State University found high concentrations in breast and liver, and when they fed that meat to rats, the rats became restless, ate less, suffered heat stress, and some died.

In Delta State, a study of 15 chickens found broilers from Abraka market had gentamicin, enrofloxacin, tylosin, oxytetracycline and sulphamethazine, while native chicken from Ovie-orie had only oxytetracycline, ranging from 0.3 in wing to 38.0 in liver. Native is not zero risk, but it is far lower. That is verifiable.

These are small, cross-sectional studies, limited to one state, one market, one time. The Ebonyi North study on antimicrobial-resistant E. coli in poultry, published in 2025, stated its own limitations in the paper. The study findings are limited to Ebonyi North and may not generalize to other regions in Nigeria, and only poultry birds were included.

The absence of environmental and human samples limits One Health inferences. A cross-sectional study may not capture seasonal variation in carriage or resistance patterns, and not all the antibiotic classes were tested. The Enugu study on 200 farms in 2024 stated its limitations include potential social desirability bias related to literacy and awareness, because farmers may tell researchers what they think researchers want to hear.

There is no published national, random, year-round survey of broilers in all 36 states plus the Federal Capital Territory, using the same lab method, that can give a single true national rate. Until that exists, this story reports each rate as the rate in that study, not as the rate for all Nigerian chicken.

We have not conducted our own lab test in Port Harcourt in 2026, and we say so openly. We are relying on these published lab tests, which are the best available evidence. We invite NAFDAC and the Rivers State Ministry of Health to publish their own most recent market-testing results for Port Harcourt, so the public can see current local data. We also invite any farmer, seller, or association who has different data to share it, and we will publish it.

Dr. Chinonso Egemba, known as Aproko Doctor, has cited studies from Ibadan, Enugu and the north and said significant amounts of tetracycline, penicillin, sulfonamides and oxytetracycline used on poultry farms are finding their way into the diets of Nigerians.

He said Nigerians may already be ingesting dangerous amounts of antibiotics through chicken and eggs every day. That is his assessment of the published studies, not a new lab test by him.

Eggs are also part of the picture. In Ilorin, 75% of pooled egg samples had oxytetracycline, 30% exceeded the Codex MRL of 400 µg/kg. In Maiduguri, 60.29% of farm eggs and 15.25% of retail eggs had detectable tetracycline. In Oyo and Lagos, 60% and 80% of pooled eggs had gentamicin above MRL, and about 80% of farmers did not observe withdrawal before selling eggs. In a national survey of 30 layer farms, 900 eggs, 33.3% of farms failed to follow drug guidelines, 3.6% of eggs contained antimicrobial residues. Your child does not only eat chicken on Saturday. She eats egg every morning.

When a person eats chicken with antibiotic residue regularly, bacteria in the gut may see that low dose and learn to survive it. The next time that person really needs an antibiotic, it may not work as well. That is the mechanism described by WHO and by Dr. Onwualu. It is not proof that every fever in Nigeria is caused by chicken.

The global evidence in 2026 is stronger than in 2019, but it is still based on surveillance that is incomplete. The WHO Global Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Report 2025, published on 13 October 2025 and drawing on more than 23 million laboratory-confirmed infections from 104 countries, found that one in six common bacterial infections worldwide in 2023 were resistant to antibiotic treatment, rising to roughly one in three urinary tract infections. Resistance is about one in five in the African Region, and for some last-line drugs, resistance to third-generation cephalosporins exceeds 70 percent in parts of the African Region.

A systematic review and meta-analysis published on 15 January 2026, covering 90 studies from 16 sub-Saharan African countries and 104,086 isolates, found pooled antimicrobial resistance prevalence of 61.6 percent in selected foodborne pathogens. That figure is a pooled estimate from those studies, not a count of all infections in Africa.

In Douala, Cameroon, a study published in 2026 followed ESBL-producing E. coli through people, poultry and wastewater between June 2022 and May 2023. It found ESBL-producing E. coli in 54.6 percent of rectal swabs from pregnant women, 70.4 percent of broiler chickens, and 93.1 percent of wastewater samples.

Among the ESBL isolates, resistance to ciprofloxacin was above 80 percent and resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole above 70 percent in every sector tested. That is Cameroon, not Nigeria. It is included because it uses the same One Health method and the same food system type, not because it proves Nigeria’s rate.

The Lancet Global Health study, led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and Oxford, looked at 47 African countries and estimated that in 2019, over 1.05 million deaths were associated with antimicrobial resistance in the WHO African Region, and 250,000 deaths were directly attributable to it. Those are modelled estimates, not counted bodies.

In Nigeria, the Federal Government has repeated the 2019 estimate in 2026. At a joint ministerial press briefing on 12 October 2026, ahead of the Abuja conference, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, described AMR as a “silent pandemic” that kills quietly. Dr. Iziaq Salako cited findings from the 2022 Lancet study estimating that bacterial AMR caused 1.27 million deaths worldwide in 2019, including 64,500 in Nigeria.

The Federal Government itself admitted the surveillance lapse in 2026. At the same 12 October 2026 briefing, Prof. Pate said, “The specific numbers depend on the surveillance capabilities.

“I have to admit that there are still gaps in surveillance.” He said Nigeria’s figures “may not be the same” as those from countries with better surveillance systems. We quote the Minister because his honesty strengthens the case for more surveillance, not because it weakens the government.

Nigeria’s One Health Antimicrobial Resistance National Action Plan 2024-2028 estimates 64,500 deaths in Nigeria in 2019 were attributable to AMR, while 263,400 deaths were associated with AMR, and warns these numbers are probably low due to gaps in national AMR tracking.

In December 2025, Nigeria started its first nationally representative AMR survey, to cover 40 to 45 randomly selected health facilities and about 35,000 patients suspected of having bloodstream infections. That survey has not yet published results. A 2025 study of 302 laboratories in Nigeria found only 7.3 percent were fully ready for AMR surveillance, while 12.3 percent reported taking part in AMR surveillance.

The global surveillance gap is also documented. A TechCabal analysis in 2026 found 48 percent of countries did not report resistance data to WHO’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System in 2023, and about half of those that reported lacked systems to produce reliable data.

Only 17 countries in the WHO African Region reported nationally representative bloodstream infection surveillance coverage in 2023. The African Region contributed only 2.2 percent of isolates in the GLASS systematic review, despite having the highest burden.

On 27 October 2026, the US CDC released its updated Antimicrobial Resistance Threats Report. It attributes more than 9.3 million drug-resistant infections and more than 39,000 deaths each year in the US to its bacterial and fungal threat pathogens. The WHO also adopted a new Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance for 2026 to 2036 in May 2026.

For balance, the other side must be heard. The Poultry Association of Nigeria has repeatedly said that most of its registered members follow good practice, observe withdrawal periods, and do not use banned growth promoters.

The association argues that the problem is not the registered farms, but unregistered backyard farms and unregulated drug sellers who sell antibiotics over the counter without prescription.

It has called on government to enforce the existing ban and to support farmers with affordable vaccines, so they do not need to rely on antibiotics to keep birds alive. That point is included because Dr. Onwualu, speaking for PAN FCT, made the same point about ignorance and non-observance of withdrawal period.

The Federal Government also acted on trade in 2026. In a circular dated 1 April 2026, signed by Minister of Finance Wale Edun, the government banned importation of 17 categories of goods from non-ECOWAS countries, including live or frozen poultry, beef and pork products, and bird eggs with limited exceptions.

The Nation reported on 24 May 2026 that the ban on imported frozen chicken and turkey faces hitches, because the government had banned frozen poultry importation since 2003, yet retailers and importers have been doing so illegally.

We also acknowledge NAFDAC’s enforcement record in other areas, to be fair. In October 2026, NAFDAC Director-General Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye said the agency had seized banned pesticides worth over N800 million in Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo in 2025, and 2,974 cartons of paraquat worth N148.7 million in the North-West between September 2024 and July 2026. NAFDAC has said it does not declare a product unsafe without investigation, sampling and lab verification. We respect that standard. It is the same standard we apply in this story.

What we have not found, in published sources, is a 2026 systematic market-testing report for colistin residues in broilers in Mile 3, Ogbete or Artisan markets. We do not present that as proof that no testing has occurred. We present it as a gap in publicly available data, and we invite NAFDAC to close it by publishing its results. That invitation is diplomatic, and it is also accountability.

A final correction is about cooking, because parents need hope, not just fear. A study on tylosin residues in Nsukka found 51.7 percent of 180 tissues were positive, with 60 percent in kidney, 55 percent in liver, and 40 percent in muscle.

The same study found cooking and microwaving reduced tylosin concentrations by 97 to 100 percent in muscle and liver after 20 minutes. That finding applies to tylosin in that study.

It does not prove that cooking removes all drugs, in all meats, in all kitchens. There is no published 2026 Nigerian study that tested every drug after normal home cooking in Port Harcourt kitchens.

Nigeria is hosting the 5th Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance in Abuja, the first time the global gathering will be held on African soil. The conference, themed “One Health — Advancing Global AMR Commitments through Local Action,” is scheduled for December 6 to 8, 2026 at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, and will bring together ministers and stakeholders from over 100 countries. The meeting is billed to adopt the Abuja Compact on AMR, to translate commitments into measurable actions with accountability mechanisms.

A draft Abuja Compact, reported by Health Policy Watch, calls on governments to include AMR spending in routine budgets, noting only about 10% of national action plans are adequately financed. It calls for stronger surveillance, reporting to WHO, FAO and WOAH, and a tracker for accountability. Nigeria’s ministries have outlined four priorities: whole-of-government One Health coordination, local action on farms, inclusive participation, and public reporting. We welcome those commitments, and we ask, respectfully, that they be measured by public reporting after Abuja, not only by declarations in Abuja.

The questions that remain are verifiable questions, not conclusions. If the ban on colistin already exists, why did the Adebowale survey in Lagos and Ogun still find 63.8 percent of poultry farms using it? If the withdrawal period is two to three weeks, why did the Kaduna study find none of 10 farms observed it? If Nigeria is hosting the world in Abuja in December 2026 to sign the Abuja Compact, will that Compact be measured by market testing in Mile 3, Ogbete, and Artisan markets, and by publication of the first nationally representative AMR survey?

For parents, we offer practical steps, based on published studies, not fear. Ask the seller when medicine was last given. Do not eat liver and kidney daily. Cook thoroughly for 20 minutes. Choose native chicken when you can. Ask for a test before antibiotics when possible – a N5,000 test, according to one report, can save N50,000 in wrong treatments.

What this investigation proves is that residues and resistance have been found in published Nigerian studies, that a ban exists, that farmers face real economic pressure, that enforcement is documented for pesticides but not yet publicly documented for poultry residues in major markets, and that surveillance gaps mean the true burden may be higher than the estimates. What it does not prove is that broiler chicken alone causes early puberty, or that all Nigerian chicken is unsafe.

But what it also proves, through Oluchi, is that we cannot wait for perfect proof while our daughters grow up too fast. Oluchi believed blood meant she fell down. She was seven. She deserved a system that would protect her before she had to learn what that blood meant.

That system includes farmers, sellers, regulators, doctors, and mothers, working together, with public data, with affordable vaccines, with subsidised feed, and with testing that is published.

We invite NAFDAC, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, the Poultry Association of Nigeria, and any farmer or mother with additional data, to share it. We will publish it. We invite readers to tell us, respectfully, what they have seen in their own markets.

So tell me. In your house, how many times a week does your child eat broiler? Have you seen a girl of seven or eight developing breasts too early? Tell me your village.

•Onwumere is Chairman Advocacy Network on Religious and Cultural Coexistence (ANORACC).

Email: apoet_25@yahoo.com

WRITER’S NOTE: This story is based entirely on published reports, published studies, and published statements from government and professional bodies. No composite characters are used. Where we have not conducted our own lab test, we say so clearly, and we rely on the most recent published lab tests. Where an agency has not issued a statement specifically about this story, we quote its most recent published position fairly, and we invite it to update that position.