From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Public Health, Uju Anwukah, has said Nigeria is ranked as the second malnourished country globally.
Anwukah, who spoke at the Nutrition and Food Security summit organised by the House of Representatives Committee Nutrition and Food Security, added that Nigeria is ranked as the most malnourished country in Africa.
Anwukah, who spoke on Strengthening Nutrition Coordination in Nigeria through the N-774 initiative, said the President Bola Tinubu administration came up with the program so as to address malnutrition at the grassroots level.
“Nigeria is facing a critical malnutrition crisis, ranking 1st in Africa and 2nd globally for child malnutrition, necessitating urgent and sustained interventions.
‘With annual losses exceeding$1.5 billion, malnutrition stands as a national emergency as it undermines human capital and the country’s development.”
The Committee chairman, Chike Okafor, said the summit was organised to brainstorm on how to proffer solutions to the challenges of malnutrition in the country.
The lawmaker explained that “food insecurity has been aggravated by post-harvest loss, estimated at $2b by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), yearly, adding that “this colossal loss alone is more than the Nutrition budget of the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Education and Women Affairs put together.
“This continued loss is not only unacceptable, but unsustainable given the austere times in which we currently live. On the above premise my committee is working with those in the 36 states of the federation to do things differently.”
Okafor noted that the parliament is “undertaking strategic capacity building sessions to have a better understanding of the root and dynamics of current nutrition and food security challenges in Nigeria. A wise man once said that once you are not informed, you are deformed.
“We are hoping that the capacity building sessions are institutionalised in partnership with the National Institute of Democratic and Legislative Studies, with support from our ever helpful development partners.
“This will put us on a better pedestal to provide strategic oversight to all nutrition and food related interventions and implementing partners, including but not limited to the UN family, the World Bank, International and National NGOs, and of course the government at Federal, State and Local Government levels. By so doing, we will not only have more money for nutrition, but also more nutrition for the available money.”