Bukola Afeni
The Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria ( CS-SUNN) is urging the Federal Government to create enabling legislation, policies and plans for nutrition.
The Nutrition body is also calling for the creation of adequate budget lines for nutrition, and also the full release of nutrition budgets.
The Executive Secretary of CS-SUNN, Mr Sunday Okoronkwo made the disclosure
at a media Roundtable on Advancing Nigeria’s Nutrition Commitments from Pledges into Concrete Actions for Improved Nutrition Outcomes.
The media roundtable was organized by
CS-SUNN in collaboration with key nutrition MDAs in Abuja.
The Executive Secretary was represented by Mrs Lilian Okafor, the Communication Officer of CS-SUNN.
According to him, findings from CS-SUNN’s Trend Analysis of Nutrition Budget in Nigeria (2019 – 2022) shows that relative to the size of the Federal government’s spending plan in 2018, health sector allocation stands at 5.79 per cent.
“This is relatively low when compared to the 15 per cent commitment made by the Nigerian government at the 2006 Abuja declaration summit. A review of budgetary allocation in 2016 to 2022 shows that Nigeria also failed to honour this commitment.
“If the Abuja declaration was implemented, additional allocations of approximately N3.91 trillion should have been injected and spent on the health sector between 2016 and 2022”, he said.
He called on President Tinubu-led administration to follow through with his pledge across all nutrition line MDAs at all levels.
” We believe we will give nutrition a seat at management tables in MDAs, where decisions around the prioritization of nutrition will be made”, he said.
The Director of Nutrition and Food Safety, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs Mahmood Sugra, who was represented by Mr Julius Adanlawo, said food security should be prioritized in the country.
She urged media practitioners to keep spreading the right information about nutrition to the populace
“We are trying to ensure that we make food available to all Nigerians , because food is very essential. Food security and nutrition should be of paramount importance to all the citizens”, Sugra said.
The Ministry of Agriculture commended CS-SUNN for partnering with the Ministry to improve nutrition outcomes in the country.
The Director Head of Nutrition, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Mrs Ladidi Bako Aiyegbusi said the Federal Government is working extensively to improve nutrition issues across all the MDAs in the country.
“Nutrition is multisectoral in nature, the government cannot do it alone , we need different stakeholders and partners to support nutrition interventions across all board”.
She commended CS-SUNN for supporting the efforts of the government in improving nutrition in the country.
Bako also urged the media practitioners to keep spreading information about nutrition to the public, while also paying accolades to them for the laudable act of supporting government in times past.
