Food safety regulation in Nigeria involves multiple institutions, including NAFDAC, the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and agricultural ministries. Although policies exist to regulate pesticide registration, use, and residue monitoring, enforcement is weak due to resource limitations, fragmented oversight, and insufficient laboratory capacity for routine testing. This regulatory gap undermines consumer trust and contributes to heightened risk perception (Abubakar et al, 2024; Adebayo & Adeoye, 2023).

Empirical evidence on enforcement efficacy in pesticide control is sparse, but studies on food safety governance more broadly point to enforcement challenges as a key barrier to effective food safety assurance.

2.8 Summary of Gaps in Existing Literature

Despite the growing recognition of pesticide-related food safety risks, critical gaps remain:

1. Limited empirical studies on pesticide-specific public perception in Nigeria.
2. Few mixed-methods investigations that integrate consumer quantitative data with qualitative insights from other stakeholders.
3. Insufficient understanding of the moderating roles of regulatory trust and awareness on perception–behaviour relationships.
4. Weak linkage between scientific residue data and consumer perceptions in existing research.

2.9 Conclusion

This chapter has reviewed literature on food safety, pesticide use practices, public perception, theoretical foundations, consumer behaviour, and regulatory oversight. It highlights that pesticide residues in food pose both health and environmental risks, and that public perception plays a pivotal role in shaping consumer trust and behaviour. However, knowledge gaps persist, particularly regarding how Nigerians perceive pesticide-related food safety risks in the context of their lived experiences and socio-economic conditions. These gaps justify the choice of a mixed-methods design for this study, as well as the need to investigate both objective and subjective dimensions of pesticide-food safety perception in Nigeria.