The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health, Uju Anwukah, announced that Nigeria now ranks second worldwide on the global malnutrition index, and first in Africa, underscoring the severity of undernutrition among its population.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Food and Nutrition, Chike Okafor, estimates that malnutrition costs Nigeria about US$1.5 billion each year in healthcare expenses and lost productivity. He further notes that inaction on child stunting, low birth weight, and anaemia drains roughly 12.2% of the nation’s Gross National Income, approximately US$56 billion.

To tackle these challenges, Nigeria has signed up for the N-774 initiative, a package of nutrition interventions endorsed by the National Council on Food Security and the Nigerian Governors Forum. This program focuses on strengthening coordination at the state and local levels to address malnutrition from the ground up.

Okafor highlighted that annual post-harvest losses, estimated at US$2 billion by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, exceed the combined nutrition budgets of the federal Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Education, and Women Affairs. Reducing these losses is seen as critical to improving food security and nutrition outcomes.

The summit on nutrition and food security includes strategic capacity-building sessions, planned in partnership with the National Institute for Democratic and Legislative Studies and development partners, to equip lawmakers and implementers with the skills needed for effective oversight of nutrition programs across all levels of government.