Worried by the infant mortality rate running into 800 children yearly, a civil society organisation, CS-SUNN, has advocated for increased budgetary allocation for nutrition by state governments in order to address the problem in Nigeria.
The chairman of the Steering Committee of the Organisation for Nutrition, Mallam Sodangi Adam, expressed worry that with over 800 children dying annually before the age of five due malnutrition, calls for a holistic action plan by government at various levels to tackle the scourge of poverty in the country.
Adam stated this yesterday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state capital, during his remarks at a two-day retreat for legislators and executives from Niger, Kano, Nasarawa, Kaduna and Lagos states.
Addressing the forum tagged; “Improved Malnutrition Funding: The Role of Legislators and Executives,” Adam said:
“What is currently happening is very worrisome because the statistics from the World Health Organization and United Nations Children Educational Fund and even the World Bank is showing that one million of our children are dying annually before age five.
“And what UNICEF did was to identify malnutrition as the underlying cause of the infant mortality and morbidity for over 80 per cent of these children which means that over 800 of these children that die is as a result of malnutrition.
“This calls for action. That is why you see the legislators and state executives here for them to look at the statistics from world leading institutions like the WHO, UNICEF and World Bank for them to take appropriate action in their various states.
“I think we have the right mix of legislators including speakers, government agencies, permanent secretaries and other stakeholders. This is very apt and I think they will come out with a solution to address this challenge”, he said.
On interventions by the state governments, Adam said, “most of the states are battling with the challenges of budgeting. Appropriations are not made for nutrition and even if they are made the issue of releases becomes a problem.
“That is why we have the legislators and principal officers of state assemblies. What we are trying to change is the budgeting so that improved amounts will be budgeted for nutrition”.
Speaking earlier, the organisation’s Board of Trustees chairman, Dr Mbang Ada said the aim of the retreat was to ensure food security for Nigerian children.
She urged legislators to make legislation that would support good and safe nutrition, adding that such foods should be free from contaminants.
