Nutrition Council, Others Rally Against Infant, Maternal Mortality

Stakeholders drawn from the National Council on Nutrition (NCN) chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the House of Representatives, state assemblies and some civil society organisations (CSOs) have expressed dismay at the prevailing hunger and poverty in the country.

The conferees at the “Strategic Policy Dialogue Across Focal States” converging for the two days summit at CEEDAPEQ Hotels, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, noted with concern the alarming rate of poverty and malnutrition, lamenting that pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under age five, remain worse hit by the problem.

At the conference  tagged; “Nutrition: Key to Health, Equity and Development in Nigeria” on Wednesday, the senior special assistant (SSA) to the Vice President on Nutrition and Food Security, Uju Anwuka, said the challenge demanded a holistic action by stakeholders across the three tiers of government.

She recalled that the necessity of addressing the malnutrition crises across Nigeria led to launch of N -774 Initiative by the Vice President, towards ensuring food sufficiency and affordabillity for easy access across the country, especially the rural poor homes.

She noted with regret that “Nigeria is facing nutrition crises and ranks number one in Africa and second globally with over $1.5 billion dollars lost yearly to the problem.

“Malnutriition is a national emergency; it undermines human capital and national development,” she warned and charged the National Assembly and the State Houses of Assembly to expedite action by effective legislations that would enhance quick allocation of funds and implementation of effective agricultural policies to curb the food challenge.

In the same vein, the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Food and Nutrition, Hon. Chike Okafor, stressed the need for institutional strengthening, people- oriented policies and laws “that can make food available on the table of Nigerians,” and made a case for  stronger action to remedy the food scourge.

He, therefore, urged stakeholders not to see the retreat as another opportunity for relaxation outside their work schedules, but an avenue to refine ideas on how to navigate the country and the population out of the current food crises.

Coalition of national and international Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) including the Civil Society – Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (SC -SUNN), UNICEF, FHI360 and OINNS, called for urgent intervention programes across the country to boost food production and affordable nutrition for the population if Nigeria must grow optimally.

The executive director of SC -SUNN, Okoronkwo Sunday, explained that the interventionist regime became necessary to galvanize stakeholders to address the urgent need to rescue the population from what he described as a clear and present danger of hunger and starvation afflicting the population.

The chairman of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Hon. Moses Essien; the Deputy Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Hon. Afiniku Dauda, who represented the Speaker, Abdulmalik DaJi; the permanent secretary, Kano State Ministry of Planning and Budget, Abdul Kadan and other resource persons, underscored the importance of food security and tasked the conference to come out with a workable framework to tackle the crises.