Malnutrition: Nigeria’s Children Paying Price Of Neglect

Across Nigeria’s northwest, mothers cradle malnourished children whose frail bodies tell stories of hunger, poverty, and neglect. Their eyes mirror a silent crisis that has persisted for too long, one that now robs the nation not just of lives, but of its future.

Malnutrition in many parts of the north is not just a statistic but an everyday reality. From Sokoto to Jigawa, Katsina to Kebbi, children suffer from stunting and wasting, conditions that leave them too short or too thin for their age and prone to disease, delayed learning, and, too often, death.

At a Conference on Mobilising Against Malnutrition in Northwest, hosted by the Katsina State Government in collaboration with the Northwest Governors Forum, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and the Office of the Vice President, recently in Abuja, the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, said malnutrition remains one of Nigeria’s most tragic but preventable crises, warning that it continues to weaken children, limit the nation’s potential, and undermine economic development.

“When a nation’s child suffers from stunted growth, its future becomes stunted. When a mother lacks the nutrition to sustain herself and her unborn child, it is not her failure, it is a collective indictment on our social system,” he said.

Represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health, Mrs. Uju Rochas-Anwukah,

Shettima described nutrition as “the most strategic investment” any government can make, stressing that the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of intervention.

He cited estimates showing that Nigeria loses about $56 billion annually to malnutrition, equivalent to 12.2 per cent of its national income.

“Every dollar invested in nutrition yields a return of $23. It is one of the highest returns on investment for any development intervention. A nourished child is not just a beneficiary, he or she is a future innovator, teacher, and leader,” he said.

He outlined ongoing federal efforts under the Nutrition 774 Initiative, led by the National Council on Nutrition, which integrates nutrition programming across all local government areas through five key pillars political leadership, sustainable financing, multi-sectoral coordination, accountability, and evidence-based planning.

The Katsina State Governor, Dikko Umar Radda, in his remarks, said malnutrition had become an emergency threatening the future of children in the Northwest. He revealed that his administration had invested heavily in healthcare, agriculture, and social protection to tackle the crisis.

Radda said over N40 billion had been invested in the health sector, 261 primary health centres renovated, and 2,977 health workers employed. He also revealed that Katsina contributed N1 billion to the Child Nutrition Fund, matched by UNICEF, and distributed 90,000 bags of grains to vulnerable households.

“When the MSF report came out, it was daunting, but instead of rejecting it, we took it as a challenge. We are confronting the situation head-on,” the governor said.

He disclosed that the state is setting up a local Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) production facility to ensure sustainable supply for malnutrition treatment centres, while also implementing six-month maternity leave and child protection laws to improve child health and nutrition outcomes.

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, described malnutrition as “one of the most pressing challenges confronting Nigeria,” especially in the northwest, where wasting and stunting levels exceed emergency thresholds.

Represented by the Director of Nutrition at the ministry,  Mrs. Ladidi Bako-Aiyegbusi, revealed that the federal government had established 115 new treatment sites this year and is scaling up both preventive and treatment interventions under the National Food and Nutrition Policy.

“Behind every statistic is a real child and a real family struggling to survive. Government alone cannot carry this burden. We must all act, states, donors, civil society, and communities,” he said.

Data presented at the conference showed that stunting rates in the northwest range from 40.7 per cent in Kebbi to 64.6 per cent in Katsina, with the region collectively losing over ₦1 trillion in GDP annually due to malnutrition.

Nigeria remains at the epicentre of a worsening child malnutrition crisis, with MSF revealing that it treated nearly 300,000 children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) across northern Nigeria in 2024, the highest number for any country where the organisation operates.

MSF Country Representative, Dr. Ahmed Aldikhari, said the figure accounted for more than half of MSF’s global SAM admissions, underscoring the severity of Nigeria’s malnutrition burden and the urgent need for joint action.

He noted that the situation is particularly dire in northwestern and Sahelian regions, where seasonal hunger, food insecurity, and inadequate access to healthcare continue to drive up malnutrition rates among children and pregnant women.

Nigeria’s fight against malnutrition is not just about saving lives, it’s about securing the nation’s future.

Until every child is nourished, until every mother is supported, and until no family has to choose between food and survival, the work remains unfinished.