By Abbas Nazil
Jigawa State Governor, Malam Umar Namadi, has called for stronger preventive measures against malnutrition, particularly among children, describing adequate nutrition as essential to building a healthy, productive population and achieving sustainable human capital development.
The governor made the call while receiving a delegation of budget commissioners from the 19 northern states and representatives of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) at Government House, Dutse, during a courtesy visit on Monday.
The delegation, led by Mrs Clementina Okoro, Director of Food and Nutrition at the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, was in Jigawa for a three-day zonal review meeting on Nigeria’s Food Systems Transformation Pathways.
The meeting aimed to assess progress in implementing the national strategy, share experiences among participating states and strengthen coordination towards improving food systems and nutritional outcomes across the country.
Namadi said addressing malnutrition required a comprehensive and systematic approach that prioritised prevention rather than waiting until affected individuals required medical intervention.
He stressed that governments must introduce appropriate measures to prevent malnutrition from occurring, particularly among children, whose health and nutritional status are essential to the development of a capable and productive population.
According to him, human capital development depends on the availability of a healthy and adequately nourished population, making nutrition a critical component of sustainable development.
The governor also emphasised that agricultural development should extend beyond food production to cover the entire value chain, including processing, value addition, transportation and consumption.
He explained that improving food systems required coordinated interventions that would ensure food availability translated into better nutrition and improved living conditions for citizens.
Namadi called for a structured approach to tackling malnutrition, urging stakeholders to identify appropriate interventions, determine the levels at which they should be implemented and establish the most effective timing for their delivery.
He assured the delegation that the Jigawa State Government would continue to support efforts to transform food systems and improve nutrition, noting that the benefits of the national initiative should ultimately reach communities across the country.
Earlier, Okoro explained that the zonal review meetings were designed to cover all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with participants organised according to Nigeria’s geopolitical zones to encourage inclusive participation and collaboration.
She commended the Jigawa State Government for hosting the meeting and expressed satisfaction with the presentations and initiatives shared by participating stakeholders.
Okoro particularly highlighted the state’s homegrown interventions, including the Masaki Programme, describing the reported efforts as encouraging examples of initiatives aimed at strengthening food systems and improving nutritional outcomes.
She noted that food systems transformation involved several interconnected sectors, beginning with agricultural production and extending through processing and other stages of the value chain.
The FAO delegation leader also stressed the importance of involving women, young people and small and medium-sized enterprises in food systems development, explaining that their participation could create economic opportunities, promote value addition and reduce post-harvest losses.
She identified post-harvest losses as a major challenge in Nigeria, noting that strengthening processing and other value-chain activities could help minimise waste while improving the availability and utilisation of food.
Okoro further disclosed that the delegation had received encouraging reports from participating states regarding efforts to strengthen nutrition financing through increased budgetary allocations, approvals and releases.
She said sustained funding, stronger intergovernmental coordination and effective implementation of nutrition programmes would be important to advancing Nigeria’s food systems transformation agenda and improving the nutritional well-being of its population.
