The Federal Government has announced the launch of a National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action on Nutrition to address issues of malnutrition in Nigeria. This was disclosed by a media aide to the President, Bashir Ahmad, after Vice President Yemi Osinbajo set up a technical advisory group to support the policy implementation.
“In the FG’s resolve to frontally address the problems of hunger and malnutrition in the country, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has set up an ad-hoc Technical Advisory Group to support the implementation of the 5-year National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action on Nutrition (NMPAN).”
“The technical advisory group will be governed by a nutrition council,” says Bashir Ahmad. Membership of the council includes the chairman of the Nigerian governor’s forum (NGF), the ministers of health and water resources, as well as the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning. Others are the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, development partners, organised private sector, Civil Society Organisations and the former Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido.
The plan is targeted at reducing the proportion of people who suffer malnutrition by 50 per cent, and increase the exclusive breastfeeding rate to 65 per cent. It will also reduce stunting rate among under-five year old’s to 18 per cent by 2025 through the scaling up of priority high impact nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions.
The plan recommends the adoption and implementation of strategies aimed at improving the nutritional status of Nigerians by tackling undernutrition and stunting, among others. The vice president welcomed suggestions for the adoption of extensive nutrition advocacy programmes to be driven by stakeholders across all levels of government and the private sector. NGF’s Chairman, Gov. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State, said his colleagues endorsed the plan. In a remark, Lamido said the same commitment would need to be demonstrated in the states. He said that taking the advocacy campaign to the state governors would be a crucial step toward ending malnutrition in the country. Pulse NG.
