By Faridat Salifu
Nigeria currently ranks second on the global malnutrition index and first in Africa, according to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health, Uju Anwukah.
Anwukah disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja during a session on the N-774 initiative at the ongoing National Summit on Nutrition and Food Security, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Food and Nutrition.
She said Nigeria adopted the N-774 initiative to tackle malnutrition from the grassroots level, adding that the programme has been endorsed by the National Council on Food Security and the Nigerian Governors Forum.
Also speaking at the summit, the Chairman of the House Committee on Food and Nutrition, Chike Okafor, stated that malnutrition is costing Nigeria about $1.5 billion annually.
He added that the cost of inaction on food and nutrition is estimated at 12.2 percent of Nigeria’s Gross National Income (GNI) about $56 billion based on data from Nutrition International and the World Bank.
Okafor also highlighted that food insecurity in the country is worsened by post-harvest losses estimated at $2 billion annually by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
He said this loss surpasses the combined annual budgets for nutrition in the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Education and Women Affairs.
“The continued loss is not only unacceptable but unsustainable given the austere times in which we currently live,” he said.
Okafor said the House Committee is working with officials across all 36 states to change Nigeria’s approach to food and nutrition.
He revealed that the committee is implementing strategic capacity-building sessions to better understand the root causes and dynamics of Nigeria’s nutrition and food security challenges.
According to him, the sessions are expected to be institutionalised in collaboration with the National Institute for Democratic and Legislative Studies (NILDS) and supported by development partners.
The aim, he noted, is to strengthen legislative oversight and coordination of all nutrition-related interventions by the government and its international partners.
These include the United Nations system, World Bank, and both international and national NGOs, working alongside federal, state, and local government agencies.
He said better oversight will help ensure “not just more money for nutrition, but more nutrition for the available money.”
