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Nigeria to Fast-Track National Food, Nutrition Bill — Shettima

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Vice-President Kashim Shettima says Nigeria will accelerate the development of a National Food and Nutrition Bill to safeguard nutrition financing, strengthen accountability and sustain interventions across successive administrations.

Shettima stated this on Wednesday at the Nigeria-Ethiopia Nutrition Leadership Exchange Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

He said the National Policy on Food and Nutrition 2026–2035 had set targets to reduce Nigeria’s stunting rate to 32 per cent by 2029, 28 per cent by 2032 and 25 per cent by 2035.

According to him, the proposed legislation will strengthen the Nutrition 774 Initiative and deepen collaboration among the Federal, State and Local Governments in tackling malnutrition, particularly at the community level.

He said nutrition committees had been established in 32 State Houses of Assembly and more than 450 Local Government Areas, describing the development as an opportunity to provide stronger legislative backing for nutrition interventions.

“We are convinced that, with nutrition committees in 32 state assemblies, there is no better time for us to accelerate the development of a National Food and Nutrition Bill and the advancement of a federal, state and local compact to protect financing and enforce accountability beyond administrations,” he said.

Shettima said the Federal Government’s $26 million commitment to the Child Nutrition Fund had attracted matching support, raising the fund to $52 million, while 21 states had contributed $6.3 million since 2023 toward supplies for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition.

He added that the proposed Presidential Nutrition Investment Fund would provide catalytic financing, while the Nutrition Financing Subcommittee was working to mobilise additional domestic resources.

The Vice-President said the urgency of the reforms was underscored by the fact that about 40 per cent of Nigerian children under five were affected by stunting, with undernutrition estimated to cost the country $56 billion annually.

Earlier, Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Temesgen Tiruneh, said sustained political leadership, financing and accountability at all levels were critical to addressing malnutrition.

Tiruneh said more than 100,000 children in Ethiopia had been protected from malnutrition through community mobilisation and improvements in the nutritional value of food.

Also speaking, Ethiopia’s Minister of Health, Dr Mekdes Daba, said the forum focused on child malnutrition and Ethiopia’s Seqota Declaration, which seeks to end child stunting by 2030.

Members of the Nigerian delegation, including governors and ministers, pledged to strengthen the country’s nutrition value chain through increased investment in technology, financing, education and food systems.

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