Federal government is showing a further concern in the growing crisis of malnutrition and food insecurity in Nigeria. It has therefore stressed the need for an urgent need for the coordination of the national interventions in this regard.
This was made known on Sunday in Abuja by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (FMAFS), Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi. It was at the flagging off of a workshop on the implementation of the “Nourishing Nigeria” project. The workshop is a collaboration between the Ministry and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), as well as other development partners.
The permanent secretary was represented by the Director of Agriculture Lands and Climate Change Management Services, Mr. Oshadiya Olanipekun.
According to him, malnutrition is not just a lack of food but a deficiency in the quality and nutritional value of what people eat. He said the deficiency manifests in three stages, which include undernutrition (that being stunting, wasting, and the level of being underweight), micronutrient deficiencies (example of which is anaemia), and over nutrition (such as obesity).
Ogunbiyi stated that “approximately 79 per cent of Nigerian households experience food insecurity”.
The challenge of malnutrition in Nigeria is further compounded by disparities in access to nutritious foods, limited awareness of healthy diets, and the economic inability of many households to diversify their meals.
These challenges, Ogunbiyi noted, often force families to resort to less nutritious options, leading to serious health outcomes, especially for children, adolescents, women of reproductive age, and pregnant women.
He said, “This situation exacerbates malnutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies, with anaemia affecting 30.5 per cent of young children, 20.3 per cent of adolescent girls, 23.3 per cent of women of reproductive age, and 31.5 per cent of pregnant women”.
Many people will, therefore, applaud the initiative by the government to launch this programme. However, despite the intentions of “Nourishing Nigeria,” some concerns have been raised over perceived bias in project’s implementation plan.
Criticism emerged that certain regions or stakeholders were being favoured, either in resource allocation or participation.
Although the report did not directly address the details of these accusations, the Ministry’s emphasis on inclusivity and technical alignment suggests an attempt to reassure the public of the project’s fairness and broad-based impact.
These concerns likely stemmed from previous efforts that lacked clear benchmarks for participation, leading to unequal outcomes across different states.
As a result, the Ministry and its partners have taken deliberate steps to redefine the project’s structure to avoid past pitfalls.
To benefit from the project, states are required to meet a set of criteria that include the “establishment of Junior Farmer Field and Business Schools to train young farmers, commitment to nutrition-sensitive agricultural practices, and the development of state-level policy and legal frameworks that support food and nutrition security”.
According to Ogunbiyi, “the efforts will align with Nigeria’s food systems transformation agenda which seeks to boost dietary diversity and sustainable food security, targeting significant reduction in malnutrition”.
The ministry subsequently encouraged homestead gardening and the distribution of nutrition input packs to vulnerable households to support self-sustained access to bio-fortified crops, fruits, and vegetables.
As part of a broader solution, the Director of Food and Nutrition Safety, Nuhu Adamu Kilishi, called for a “multifaceted approach” that brings together agriculture, health, and other sectors to comprehensively tackle the root causes of malnutrition.
But the fears being expressed have not in any way nullified the benefit of the programme. And that is being attested to by people like the Chairman of the Committee on Food and Nutrition in the federal House of Representatives, Hon. John Chike Okafor, who lauded the initiative as timely. He stated that the initiative aligns with the legislature’s goal of supporting the executive arm in the fight against malnutrition and food insecurity.
FAO’s Country Representative, Dominique Koffy Kouacou represented by Programme Officer Tofiq Braimag, emphasised that the technical cooperation programme would integrate “nutrition-sensitive approaches into agricultural planning, implementation and policy.”
Representatives of UNICEF, the World Food Programme, state-level officials, and other development partners were present at the occasion. Obe . M. Mabel, principal information officer in the ministry said, in a statement, that the presence of representatives of th we agencies was a sign of the emergence of a strong multi-stakeholder commitment to addressing one of Nigeria’s most pressing public health challenges.
