Vice President Kashim Shettima on Tuesday raised concern over the country’s malnutrition crisis, stating that nearly 40 per cent of Nigerian children under the age of five are being deprived of their full physical and cognitive potential due to poor nutrition.
Shettima made the statement at the National Summit on Nutrition and Food Security, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Nutrition and Food Security in Abuja.
He said the malnutrition challenge highlights a deeper problem beyond hunger underscoring issues of affordability, access, and the nutritional adequacy of food for millions of Nigerians.
Represented by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Office of the Vice President), Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, the Vice President said the summit was not a celebration, but a call to action. He noted that Nigeria’s food and nutrition crisis affects not just health, but also the economy, education, and the broader efforts to build human capital.
He acknowledged recent progress in legislative engagement with the establishment of the National Legislative Network on Nutrition and Food Security, replicated across all 36 State Houses of Assembly. Despite this, he said, more must be done.
Shettima reiterated that under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, nutrition has been placed at the heart of Nigeria’s development strategy. A key component of this strategy is the Nutrition 774 Initiative, a grassroots programme designed to make real impact in underserved communities. He said the initiative is backed by a newly inaugurated Nutrition 774 Strategic Board, comprising legislators, civil society actors, and government technocrats.
He commended the contributions of international and local development partners, including the World Bank’s Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) programme, UNICEF and Médecins Sans Frontières for their work in community-based management of acute malnutrition, GAIN’s ICAM project integrating nutrition with climate-smart agriculture, and Nutrition International’s Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) programme addressing maternal anaemia.
He stressed that while the efforts of these partners are appreciated, the time has come to end fragmented interventions and unify efforts toward achieving measurable results in combating malnutrition and food insecurity.
Shettima assured that the government remains focused on building systems that ensure every Nigerian, especially the vulnerable, has access to affordable, nutritious food as a foundation for a healthier and more productive population.
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