Federal Government has approved a five-year nutrition action plan that will help to reduce hunger and malnutrition across the country, the Presidency said on Tuesday.
Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, disclosed this in a statement titled “National Council on Nutrition approves five-year plan to reduce hunger, malnutrition and increase breastfeeding in Nigeria”.
The plan was approved by the National Council on Nutrition, which is chaired by the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo.
Other members of the Council include Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, Health Minister, Minister of Water Resources, the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, the Nutrition Society of Nigeria, development partners, organized private sector, Civil Society Organisations, the former Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido, among others.
Titled the “National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition (NMPFAN) 2021-2025”, the plan will guide the implementation of interventions and programmes to address the problems of hunger and malnutrition across all sectors in Nigeria.
The statement said;
The approved plan will reduce the proportion of people who suffer malnutrition by 50%; increase exclusive breastfeeding rate to 65%. It will also reduce stunting rate among under-five year olds to 18% 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 under nutrition and stunting, among others.
The Vice President also welcomed suggestions for the adoption of extensive nutrition advocacy programmes to be driven by stakeholders across all levels of government and the private sector.
Offering the support of State governors in the actualization of the plan, Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, (NGF) and Ekiti State Governor, Mr Kayode Fayemi, said his colleagues endorse the plan.
While commending the personal commitment of Vice President Osinbajo to the issue of nutrition in the country, the Chairman, Board of Trustees, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido, said the same commitment will need to be demonstrated in the States, noting that taking the advocacy campaign to the State governors will be a crucial part of ending malnutrition in the country.
The former Emir of Kano expressed that it was time to take nutrition issues more seriously.
On their part, stakeholders present at the virtual meeting, where the plan was approved, pledged their support for the implementation of the action plan aimed at addressing the menace of malnutrition in Nigeria.
Other presentations made to Council include, the National Food Consumption and Micro-Nutrient Survey 2021, the Food System Summit 2021 and the presentation on Nutrition for Growth Summit, by the Secretary, National Committee on Food and Nutrition, Mrs Chito Nelson.
