…Losses exceed $1.5bn annually as lawmakers seek urgent action
The Presidency has raised alarm over the deepening malnutrition crisis in Nigeria, disclosing that the country now ranks second globally and first in Africa for child malnutrition.
Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Public Health, Dr. Uju Anwukah, made the disclosure in Abuja during a Nutrition and Food Security Summit organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Nutrition and Food Security.
Anwukah, who spoke on the topic “Strengthening Nutrition Coordination in Nigeria through the N-774 Initiative,” described the situation as a national emergency requiring urgent and coordinated response.
“Nigeria is facing a critical malnutrition crisis, ranking first in Africa and second globally for child malnutrition. The economic toll is enormous, with annual losses exceeding $1.5 billion,” she said.
According to her, President Tinubu’s administration launched the N-774 initiative to tackle malnutrition from the grassroots level, focusing on community-based solutions to nutrition and food insecurity.
Chairman of the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Hon. Chike Okafor, said the summit was convened to develop lasting solutions to the persistent crisis of hunger and undernutrition across the country.
He lamented that food insecurity continues to worsen due to massive post-harvest losses, which the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates at over $2 billion annually.
“This loss alone is greater than the combined nutrition budgets of the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Education and Women Affairs,” Okafor said. “In austere times like these, such losses are not only unacceptable but also unsustainable.”
The lawmaker noted that the National Assembly is working closely with stakeholders across the 36 states to strengthen nutrition-related policies and oversight mechanisms.
He announced plans to institutionalise strategic capacity-building sessions in collaboration with the National Institute of Democratic and Legislative Studies and development partners, to deepen lawmakers’ understanding of nutrition and food security dynamics.
“We believe that with informed legislators, we can ensure not only more money for nutrition but also more nutrition for the money available,” Okafor added.
The summit brought together policymakers, development partners, and health experts to chart a unified path forward in the fight against hunger and malnutrition in Nigeria.
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