Nigeria Now Ranks 2nd Worst in Global Malnutrition – Presidency Raises Alarm
Nigeria has been ranked second globally and first in Africa on the global malnutrition index, according to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health, Uju Anwukah.
Speaking at the National Summit on Nutrition and Food Security held in Abuja, Anwukah revealed that this alarming ranking led to Nigeria adopting the N-774 initiative aimed at tackling malnutrition from the grassroots. The initiative, she said, has already been endorsed by both the National Council on Food Security and the Nigerian Governors Forum.
The situation was further highlighted by Hon. Chike Okafor, Chairman of the House Committee on Food and Nutrition, who said malnutrition costs Nigeria $1.5 billion annually.
Okafor noted that the total cost of inaction across all nutrition and food security parameters is equivalent to 12.2% of Nigeria’s Gross National Income, amounting to about $56 billion. He cited data from Nutrition International and the World Bank, stressing that the problem extends far beyond hunger.
“Food insecurity is made worse by massive post-harvest losses, estimated at $2 billion every year by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). That figure alone is more than the entire nutrition budgets of the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Education, and Women Affairs combined,” Okafor added.
He said his committee is now working with the 36 states to do things differently, starting with strategic capacity-building sessions to better understand and combat malnutrition and food insecurity.
“We must be informed to make the right decisions,” Okafor emphasized. He added that such training sessions would be institutionalized through the National Institute for Democratic and Legislative Studies, supported by development partners like the UN, World Bank, and national NGOs.
He concluded, “By doing this, we hope to get more money for nutrition, and more nutrition for the available money.”
