Bukola Afeni
The Executive Secretary CS-SUNN, Mr Sunday Okoronkwo, has called on stakeholders in the nutrition sector to ensure that malnutrition is reduced drastically in Nigeria.
He further noted that poverty is a major driver of malnutrition, and urged state and national leaders to work towards eliminating drivers of poverty that fuels malnutrition in the country.
The CS-SUNN boss made the disclosure at a breakfast meeting with nutrition key
stakeholders on the advancement of Women and Girls Nutrition in Nigeria.
The Executive Secretary expressed the need for the government and other stakeholders to educate the girl child to break the cycle of poverty.
“Based on the nature of our work, we have been able to discover that poverty is driving malnutrition in the country.
The most important thing we need to do is to educate the girl child.
“If you empower a woman, you are empowering the nation itself. If a girl child is educated, she has the potential to earn a high income, and this will have an impact on the quality of food the children consume.
“She will be able to contribute to the productivity of any nation. Women are family-oriented in nature, they tend to think of their family before other matters”, he said.
Nutrition Policy Analyst, at the Nigerian Governors Forum Secretariat, Chidinma Ezenwa, disclosed that the secretariat is promoting exclusive breastfeeding in different states through the support of the Governors wives.
In the same vein, she added that the NGF secretariat is also supporting various cadres of women, those in the private and public sector to ensure that exclusive breastfeeding is made a priority in the country.
“Through different advocacy and sensitization activities, we are promoting nutrition among infants, girls and women in general”, she said.
A Representative of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Mrs Susan Simpa said partnership and collaboration with stakeholders in the Education sector will improve the nutrition of women and girls in the country.
” Through the homegrown school feeding project, we have been targeting girl child projects in different schools. We will continue to support different initiatives to ensure that nutrition is prioritised in different schools.
“Through the Cash Transfer Project, we are reaching out to girls and women in Nigeria. We hope to engage in more interventions within the nutrition space”, Susan disclosed
The breakfast meeting was organised by CS-SUNN to relate with stakeholders that are in the nutrition sector. The meeting is meant to improve girl child education and nutrition.
