By Paul Effiong, Abuja
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health, Uju Anwukah has disclosed that Nigeria currently ranks second globally and first in Africa in malnutrition crises.
The presidential aide made the revelation at the end of a National Summit on Nutrition and Food Security held at the National Assembly yesterday in Abuja.
She warned that the country is currently facing a critical nutritional emergency which requires urgent grassroots intervention.
Anwukah, who spoke on ‘Strengthening Nutrition Coordination in Nigeria through the N-774 Initiative,’ urged private sector participation, as government is doing everything possible to arrest the situation.
Highlighting several efforts being made by the federal government to reverse the ugly trend, Anwukah disclosed that Nigeria had adopted the N-774 initiative which is aimed at tackling malnutrition from the community level upward.
She noted that the initiative had received endorsement from the National Council on Food Security and the Nigerian Governors Forum, underscoring national commitment to combat malnutrition through coordinated and localised actions across all spheres.
In his address, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Food and Nutrition, Chike Okafor revealed that malnutrition is draining the economy by approximately $1.5billion annually.
The lawmaker emphasised that the financial toll extends beyond health, impacting national productivity and development.
“We are dealing with a crisis that is not only affecting our children and women, but costing us dearly as a nation,” Okafor said.
Citing current data from Nutrition International and the World Bank, the lawmaker informed that the economic cost of ignoring nutrition-related challenges is equivalent to 12.2 percent of Nigeria’s Gross National Income, amounting to over $56 billion
He, therefore, warned that stunting, low birth weight and anemia among children and women are symptoms of a much deeper economic and social dysfunction.
Okafor therefore called for a paradigm shift in Nigeria’s approach to food and nutrition security.
