The Nigerian Red Cross Society has reaffirmed its commitment to complement government’s efforts in tackling malnutrition, particularly among under-five children across nine states in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by the national president of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, Prince Oluyemisi Adetayo Adeaga, at the opening ceremony of a two-day Malnutrition Emergency Appeal, inception meeting with North-East and North-Central zones, held in Bauchi yesterday.
The project targets under-five children in two zones as the Red Cross launched multi-state emergency nutrition intervention which it is implementing in nine states, Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger, Benue and Taraba.
Adeaga was represented by the national disaster adviser, Dr. Babale Adamu, who emphasised the urgency of addressing food insecurity and its long-term impact.
He said, “When you talk about malnutrition, it is not a very good thing, nothing good per se. So, we are talking about food insecurity, something that is devastating, a catastrophe.”
Adeaga called for closer collaboration with government agencies, noting that the Red Cross, as an auxiliary to public authorities, cannot tackle the crisis alone.
He added, “We are working. But then, we have not yet used all these names, antithetical assumptions. And when you look among yourselves, you can see that we have not invited government functionaries.
“So it is the key. It is the key that we understand that we cannot function alone. We are running a government of Nigeria. So that is the advice that we decided to do now.”
Acting Director of the Health and Care Department of the Nigerian Red Cross, Dr. Aminu Abdullahi, described malnutrition as a national emergency.
He explained that the Red Cross had launched an appeal to the International Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent (IFRC) to support Nigerian government’s response.
