The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Experts

  • Experts predict new forex rate at N280/dollar

    Experts predict new forex rate at N280/dollar

    As Nigerians await the new forex rate which takes effect tomorrow, experts have predicted that the new interbank forex trading rate will range between N260 and N280 to the dollar.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria announced on Wednesday that it would remove pegs on the naira to allow market forces to begin to determine the true value of the currency against other currencies across the world.

    At a meeting with CBN officials and bank chief executives at the weekend, banks requested customers to send them pending letters of credit (LCs) for them to resubmit and to quote a rate at which they want to buy dollars, with many of them submitting bids between N210 and 290 to the dollar, a source said.

    The Central Bank had pegged the naira rate at 197 to the dollar in the last 16 months after a slump in oil revenues hammered public finances and its foreign reserves. But the currency trades at around 355 on the parallel market.

    According to the CBN, there is a $4 billion backlog of demand in the market which could take three to four weeks to clear.

    However, speaking in separate interviews with The Nation yesterday, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, president, Association of Bureau de Change Operators in Nigeria (ABCON) and Dr. Frank Jacobs, president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) said the new official forex rate was okay at N280 to the dollar.

    According to Gwadabe and Jacobs, the interbank forex rate would be N280 at the minimum.

    Expatiating, Gwadabe who is miffed that the new policy regime may have practically shut the doors on bureau de change operators, said: “The present dollar liquidity situation in the economy cannot support the primary dealer structure, which encourages inflow of dollars from abroad not to be buying the limited available dollars of the CBN and circulate in the economy.”

    Besides, he said the new forex policy was medicine after death as it has already created cartel and monopoly to select a few in the financial market.

    Gwadabe who hopes the new forex policy would work, said if allowed to stand as it is it may breed round tripping on the long run.

    The ABCON boss who hinted that its members hope to float a primary market dealership of about $600-700b in the future, said it would convey an emergency meeting among its members on Tuesday and Thursday to look for a way out.

    In the view of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Director- General, Mr. Muda Yusuf, the new FX policy is in line with the position consistently canvassed by the organised private sector in the past 18 months.

    “The policy is a major incentive to exporters as they will have unfettered access to their export proceeds. Besides, the Federation Account will benefit from better revenue inflows from the CBN as sale of subsidised forex comes to an end,” he said.

    Speaking on the implication of the new forex policy, a financial analyst with one of the new generation banks, who asked not to be named said: “This could be wide-ranging and we will know more as details emerge after the press briefing. However, we can only but conclude that the end of the black market is near as anyone and everyone can now buy dollars at any bank or with authorized dealers at a price that is market determined.”

    Experts believe that flexible exchange rate regime could see the Naira fall temporarily to 380-400/$1USD or spike even higher.

  • Experts tackle mediocrity at EIL 2.0

    In a bid to eradicate mediocrity, transform mindsets, and optimise potential while propagating excellence in the Nigerian society, prolific speaker and teacher Dr. Femi Paul, and Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria Plc Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, have advocated for excellence in the day to day activities of Nigerians.

    They spoke at the Excellence in Life series 2.0, which held at the Standard Alliance events hall, Lekki Phase I, Lagos.

    Convener Dr Femi Paul said: “Everywhere you go today, mediocrity and impunity stare you in the face. This sad development, which pervades most facets of our national and private lives, has now become a sub-culture.

    “This also explains why most Nigerians prefer foreign products to made-in-Nigeria one, irrespective of the price. The reason for this is that the productions of most foreign goods are driven by a culture of excellence.

    “It is our patriotic quest to salvage our country, build a culture of excellence and leave a lasting legacy for future generations that we present to you.”

    Paul added that excellence in life series will hold in other states like Rivers, Abuja, Enugu and the villages, as part of its commitment to building a culture of excellence in the country.

    Awosika, who wasn’t physically present but sent in her lectures through a video recording, encouraged Nigerians to be upright and take control of every opportunity. She added that capital is not necessarily needed to start a business, rather passion and excellence in ones choice of career or business will lead to greatness.

     

  • Experts blame families’ woes on poor policies

    Inconsistent policy thrusts of government at all levels among other factors may be responsible for the poor state of the family globally, experts have said.

    A cross-section of experts who identified the challenges besetting most families these days spoke at the 2016 edition of Work and Family Conference, organised by the Institute for Work and Family Integration (IWFI), a nongovernmental, nonprofit organisation.

    Speaking on the theme: ‘Corporate Family Responsibility in Challenging Times,’ the Chairman of IWFI, Rt. Hon Chevalier Charles Osezua acknowledged the fact that the increasing disintegration among families was largely due to the economic crunch.

    “Husbands and wives should be able to discuss, share and understand one another because you will achieve clarity and understanding while reconciling vision for ambition,” he said.

    Justifying the need for the conference, Osezua said the motivation for the interface and discussion session was meant to make professionals understand the value of work, life balance in order to enhance their productivity.

    HR experts, the IWFI boss emphasised, need to understand that people remain the most important assets in the organisation, and as such should be given the necessary motivation as and when due.

    “Corporate organisations need to look beyond their performance management system/structures and also examine the impact of policies and the environment on the people. There is a strong need to ensure the sustainability of business because the economic system is constantly changing the environment,  work and family,” he stressed.

    Echoing similar sentiments, Dr Adedoyin Salami said as much as sustainable development goals addressing cost and efficiencies are achieved and emerging trends are rapidly springing up, companies need to look inwards.

    “We should be able to move from, ‘leave to work and work to leave’ because the more information we share, the easier for people to understand where we are and where we are going. Transparency is the key to knowledge,” he said.

    Other notable speakers at the event include: Dr. Enase Okonedo, Dean LBS, Mr. Udom Inoyo, ED Exxon Mobil Group Nigeria, Vice President CIPM, Prof. Albert Alos, Prof. Chantai Epie, Head of Business Admin, PAU and Mr. Femi Mokikan, former Chairman Committee of HR Experts.

  • Experts blame families’ woes on poor policies

    Experts blame families’ woes on poor policies

    Inconsistent policy thrusts of government at all levels among other factors may be responsible for the poor state of the family globally, experts have said.

    A cross-section of experts who identified the challenges besetting most families these days spoke at the 2016 edition of Work and Family Conference, organised by Institute for Work and Family Integration (IWFI) a nongovernmental, nonprofit organisation.

    Speaking on the theme: ‘Corporate Family Responsibility in Challenging Times,’ the Chairman of IWFI, Rt. Hon Chevalier Charles Osezua acknowledged the fact that the increasing disintegration among families was largely due to the economic crunch.

    “Husbands and wives should be able to discuss, share and understand one another because you will achieve clarity and understanding while reconciling vision for ambition,” he said.

    Justifying the need for the conference, Osezua said the motivation for the interface and discussion session was meant to make professionals understand the value of work, life balance in order to enhance their productivity.

    HR experts, the IWFI boss emphasised, need to understand that people remain the most important assets in the organisation, and as such should be given the necessary motivation as and when due.

    “Corporate organisations need to look beyond their performance management system/structures and also examine the impact of policies and the environment on the people. There is a strong need to ensure the sustainability of business because the economic system in constantly changing environment of work and family,” he stressed.

    Echoing similar sentiments, Dr Adedoyin Salami said as much sustainable development goals addressing cost and efficiencies are achieved and emerging trends are rapidly springing up, companies need to look at markets and the costing.

    “We should be able to move from, ‘leave to work and work to leave’ because the more information we share, the easier for people to understand where we are and where we are going transparency is the key to knowledge,” he said.

    Other notable speakers include: Dr. Enase Okonedo, Dean LBS, Mr. Udom Inoyo, ED Exxon Mobil Group Nigeria, Vice President CIPM, Prof. Albert Alos, Prof. Chantai Epie, Head of Business Admin, PAU and Mr. Femi Mokikan, former Chairman Committee of HR Experts.

  • How to keep your kidneys intact, by experts

    Nephrologists have warned against the rising incidence of kidney failure, citing diabetes and high blood pressure as chief causes.

    They said people should preserve their kidneys as it is cheaper to do that than seeking treatment to restore failed kidneys.

    A former President, Nigerian Association of Nephrologists (NAN), Dr Ebun Bamgboye, said people should control their diabetes and high blood pressure, also known as hypertension.

    For him, the answer to prevention or delay of severe kidney disease is early detection and aggressive intervention. This, he said, will help to slow down the progression to kidney failure.

    “Medical care with early intervention can change the course of chronic kidney disease and help prevent the need for dialysis or a kidney transplant.

    “Diabetes and high blood pressure account for two-third of chronic kidney disease cases. By aggressively managing diabetes and high blood pressure with diet, exercise and medication, people should be able to prevent kidney failure and help keep as much kidney functions as possible,” Bamgboye said.

    The expert also recommended diet, which is low in fat and salt, adding that people should exercise most days of the week.

    Bamgboye, Head, Dialysis/Transplant Unit of St. Nicholas Hospital in Lagos, said people should ensure that they have regular check-ups and avoid tobacco while those who take alcohol should limit its consumption or abstain from it.

    People, he said, should avoid self-medication because it is capable of inhibiting the system and affecting the kidneys.

    “They should drink lots of water daily. People should also consume fresh food and avoid junk. They should not abuse drugs. Most people sheepishly destroy their kidneys because of the kind of medication they take. We are in a country where many are their own doctors. A lot of people are guilty of not seeing doctors for prescriptions. They buy drugs across the counter,” he said.

    Attention, he said, should be devoted to kidneys disease because it affects every part of the body.

    People, according to Bamgboye, should test for kidney disease at least twice a year to know their state.

    He said: “With necessary tests people can detect kidney problems and prevent them from progressing. That way they can stop kidney disease complications. The focus should be to get people to be aware of what the kidneys are and what they need to do to make sure they did not develop the disease.”

    A nephrologist at Apollo Hospitals, India, Dr Kavitar Parihar, said many people are gradually losing their kidneys’ function and this is not limited to Nigeria alone.

    According to him, when chronic kidney disease (CKD) reaches an advanced stage, dangerous levels of fluid, electrolytes and wastes can build up in the body.

    “In Africa, CKD affects mainly young adults between 20 to 50 years, and it is primarily due to hypertension and glomerular diseases, unlike developed countries, where CKD presents in middle-aged and the elderly predominantly due to diabetes mellitus and hypertension,” he said.

    The kidney expert said: “The current dialysis treatment rate ranges from 70 per million populations (pmp) in South Africa is greater than 20 pmp in countries in Africa. The transplant rate in Africa averages four pmp and is 9.2 pmp in South Africa.”

    He said the goal to tackle the renal failure for any country should be to have a circumscribed chronic dialysis programme, with as short a time on dialysis as possible. This, he said, would increase the availability of transplantation (both living related and cadaver) and promotion of prevention strategies at all levels of health care.

    Parihar said the screening for kidney disease in high-risk populations, especially of patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus and a family history of kidney disease, should be instituted as the first step in kidney disease prevention in developing countries.

    He listed risk factors of kidney failure as diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Others are smoking, obesity, high cholesterol, being African-American, native American or Asian-American and family history of kidney disease.

  • Experts canvass accurate housing data

    Given the need to diversify the economy, experts have urged the government and  the citizenry to take advantage of opportunities in the real estate market.

    Last week at the Didi Museum, Victoria Island, Lagos, stakeholders  stressed the need to create a localised supply chain and accessible data to bridge housing deficits.

    President of the Roland Igninoba Real Foundation for Housing and Development, Mr Roland Igbinoba said his organisation was making effort to provide accurate analysis of the Nigerian real estate market to attract foreign and local investors, among other benefits.

    He said: “We thought about how we could provide data to the market, so we dimensioned the market, using Lagos as our case study. Our research covers mass housing, low income housing, medium, luxury and residential housing. Lagos was divided into clusters and analysed in terms of real estate, including their economic power. We broke the analysis down for easy read and with many pictures to break the barrier of too much text.”

    Igninoba said the report, the second edition since the first in 2009, provides easy access to all facts, data, statistics and analysis on the key players in the real estate market, as well as closing the gap between investors and housing deficits. He noted that Lagos, with growing housing deficit of about 2.4 million, needs to provide housing in areas where it is needed like on the Mainland.

    Chairman of the foundation, Mr. Newton Jibunnoh, said the report would help Nigeria ascertain her housing progress and predict same as far as 30 years from now. This, he said, is important to combat housing deficits in states with immigration explosion like Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, which would benefit the economy at large.

    Said he: “The report is not just good for developers, but the entire housing market, including the academia. It is good for lecturers to teach and students to study, because everything is referenced. The country is hungry for investors but lacks data. Data gathering is a step in the right direction. Real estate sector is very vibrant in Nigeria, but when investors can’t acquire information, they go to their country’s embassies in Nigeria to ask for the information. It’s time for us to do this ourselves.”

    Chairman, Eko Atlantic, Mr. Ronald Chagaoury expressed the minds of foreign investors concerning Nigeria’s housing market.

  • Experts worried about dearth of skilled workers in Africa

    DATA from the Third Pan-African Capacity-Building Forum in Harare, Zimbabwe, has shown the dearth of critical skilled professionals in Nigeria and other African countries.

    Executive Secretary, African Capacity-Building Foundation (ACBF) Prof. Emmanuel Nnadozie and other experts said African countries must bridge a gap of 4.3 million engineers, if the continent is to implement its flagship projects in Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    Among other areas needing critical capacity intervention, Nnadozie noted that “we need 1.6 million agricultural scientists and researchers; we have identified a gap of 2.8 million water and sanitation engineers. And this relates to the targetted needs identified for 2023 – the 10-year target for the first leg of Africa 2063.

    “Right now, over 80 per cent of students enrol in social sciences and humanities and there needs to be a conscious effort to stem this trend and direct more students towards the STEM disciplines (science, technology, engineering and maths).”

    Nnadozie explained that the skill gap in the private sector and institutional capacity in African countries need to be reinforced.

    “To what extent are our constitutions development-friendly. We need to ensure our parliamentarians have the skills to push through a development agenda and understand the treaties they ratify.”

    Aside hard skills, the ACBF chief stressed the importance of the development of ‘soft’ skills, which he identified as confidence and leadership skills to define solutions to the continent’s problems.

    “We need to educate African youths to solve African problems,” he said.

  • How to fix power crisis, by experts

    How to fix power crisis, by experts

    The use of bio fuels from biomass will meet the energy needs of Nigerians and serve as an alternative means to power supply, experts in the energy sector have stated.

    They spoke at a workshop by the College of Natural and Applied Sciences of Salem University Lokoja, Kogi State last week.

    The theme of the workshop was Renewable Energy: Panacea for Nigeria’s energy challenges.

    A consultant to United Nation Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), Engr. Solomon Useni, in his lead paper titled “Bio fuels from Biomass: Prospects, Practicability and profit making for sustainable development,” argued biomass energy generation involves large scale identification of plants and animals in rural communities.

    He added it also involves power generation using turbine and reciprocating engines and power distribution to low/ high voltage distribution lines.

    According to him, the use of bio fuels for energy needs of the nation is a cheaper means to get power to every part of the country, especially the rural areas.

    Bio fuels, Useni stated, are environmentally friendly, creates opportunities for jobs and leads to an increased national power generation capacity.

    To achieve this, he called for strategic collaborative solutions which would involve commercial end users, World Bank, government agencies and technical partners.

    The Chief Executive Officer of Biodiesel Nigeria Limited further stated bio fuel companies must come together to draw out strategies that would ensure the adoption and constant use of bio fuels for increased energy supply for domestic and industrial uses.

    He identified inadequate power supply, centralised system of power solution and low purchasing power of the populace especially in the rural communities as the main problems of power generation.

    The Head of Department of Physics, Covenant University, Ogun State, Dr. Omotosho Temidayo, pointed out that renewable energies from sun, wind and water are unlimited in supplies and free.

    He further stated they eliminate the problem of air pollution in power generation.

    Temidayo identified high initial capital cost and seasonal availability of sources of sunlight, wind and water as the major drawbacks of renewable energies.

    He canvassed adoption of energy mix or hybrid that combines both solar, wind and hydro power for commercial and industrial use.

  • Experts canvass accurate housing data

    Given the need to diversify the economy, experts have urged the government and  the citizenry to take advantage of opportunities in the real estate market.

    Last week at the Didi Museum, Victoria Island, Lagos, stakeholders  stressed the need to create a localised supply chain and accessible data to bridge housing deficits.

    President of the Roland Igninoba Real Foundation for Housing and Development, Mr Roland Igbinoba said his organisation was making effort to provide accurate analysis of the Nigerian real estate market to attract foreign and local investors, among other benefits.

    He said: “We thought about how we could provide data to the market, so we dimensioned the market, using Lagos as our case study. Our research covers mass housing, low income housing, medium, luxury and residential housing. Lagos was divided into clusters and analysed in terms of real estate, including their economic power. We broke the analysis down for easy read and with many pictures to break the barrier of too much text.”

    Igninoba said the report, the second edition since the first in 2009, provides easy access to all facts, data, statistics and analysis on the key players in the real estate market, as well as closing the gap between investors and housing deficits. He noted that Lagos, with growing housing deficit of about 2.4 million, needs to provide housing in areas where it is needed like on the Mainland.

    Chairman of the foundation, Mr. Newton Jibunnoh, said the report would help Nigeria ascertain her housing progress and predict same as far as 30 years from now. This, he said, is important to combat housing deficits in states with immigration explosion like Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja, which would benefit the economy at large.

    Said he: “The report is not just good for developers, but the entire housing market, including the academia. It is good for lecturers to teach and students to study, because everything is referenced. The country is hungry for investors but lacks data. Data gathering is a step in the right direction. Real estate sector is very vibrant in Nigeria, but when investors can’t acquire information, they go to their country’s embassies in Nigeria to ask for the information. It’s time for us to do this ourselves.”

    Chairman, Eko Atlantic, Mr. Ronald Chagaoury expressed the minds of foreign investors concerning Nigeria’s housing market.

    “A lot has changed from 2009 till now. Before, Nigeria used to be a mysterious place with hardly any information or place on its real estate statistics, coupled with all the negative media reports. So many investors shied away from Africa. But Nigeria is beating these challenges with information gradually circulating with facts, figures, statistics, Google now has some statistics and these are really good for investment.”

    A sponsor of the report, Mr. Tayo Odunsi, Team Lead at Northcourt real estate said:”The first report in 2009 covered every developer in Lagos. So, this revised edition with being in a lot of interest and activities. Real estate in Nigeria has grown big. There are now hospitality industries, formal retail spaces, facilities managers, among others. All these have to be locally documented through this report. Google will get access to it and that makes for easy reach.”

    Another sponsor, Mr. Olusesan Olaoye of Alpha Mead Development Company urged facilities managers to key into the project because of the several inherent advantages such as its ability to attract foreign investors which would naturally lead to partnership with local facilities managers.

     

  • How malnutrition fuels childhood diseases, by experts

    How malnutrition fuels childhood diseases, by experts

    The sights are scary. The sight of children lying down on mats or cloth-beds spread on bare floors could strike terror in the hearts of many parents.

    Some are carried by their mothers, they hungrilly suck on dry breasts. The mothers too looked malnourished, having nothing left to eat. These are Nigerian Internally Displaced People (IDP).

    Hauwa Salah (not real names) is two years old. She got integrated in one of the camps, but could not get enough food. She became emaciatedand her skin clung to her dry, skinny bones. A  non governmental organisation, Adopt -A- Camp,an initiative that assists internally displaced persons in the Northeast,came to her rescue and a few others were provided with life saving nutritional needs. Now, she is bouncing back to life.

    Since May 2013, Nigeria has seen an intensification of conflict due to Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe. Insurgency and counter-insurgency have inevitably resulted in the displacement of people across the troubled states.

    Over 56 percent of the total IDP population are children of which more than half  are aged up to five years while 42 percent are adults. 1,188,018 IDPs (149,357 households) were identified in Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states. (DTM) Another 47,276 IDPs (5910 households) were identified in Plateau, Nasarawa, Abuja, Kano and Kaduna states.  According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the total population of IDPs in northern Nigeria is 1,235,294. The highest number of IDPs however are in Borno state with 672,714, followed by Adamawa 220,159 and Yobe state with 135,810.

    According to statistics, in war and unrest, women and children are the most vulnerable groups and according to NEMA records, this group formed the bulk of the IDPs all over Nigeria.

     

    The war against Measles

     

    It is becoming increasingly difficult for Nigeria to win the war against measles.According to new scientific research, there is an important link between nutrition and the prevention and management of diseases.

    According to a foremost virologist, Prof Oyewale Tomori, young children (six to 60 months of age) with mild-to-moderate malnutrition had 2.2 times the risk of dying from measles during the follow-up period than their better nourished counterparts.

    Severely malnourished children had 6.8 times the risk of dying during the follow-up period than better nourished children.”Therefore, since measles is a very severe disease, which in malnourished children can carry a case fatality rate as high as 50 percent, malnutrition should be a prime indication for measles immunization, and certainly not a contraindication,” he argued.

    Prof Tomori’s concern is justified because the coalition of experts from Federal and State Governments, development partners, civil society and academia after concluding a two-day meeting to discuss the results of research on activities carried out by the Working to Improve Nutrition in Northern Nigeria (WINNN) programme in the states of Katsina, Kebbi, Jigawa, Yobe, and Zamfara, also announced the urgent need to address the root causes of child malnutrition in this region.  According to WINNN, this is germane to reducing the staggeringly high rate of child malnutrition in northern Nigeria, nay the childhood diseases, especially measles.

    WINNN has more scary statistics. As a result of malnutrition, 58 per cent of children under five in these states suffer from stunting, meaning their physical and mental development has been impaired. An estimated 370,000 children with severe acute malnutrition in these states will require lifesaving treatment this year. Without such treatment, some 70,000 of those children are likely to die.

    While treatment for severe malnutrition remains essential and has been the focus of State Governments’ activities, the participants at the WINNN meeting said increased attention should be paid to prevention, which is critical to addressing the problem in the long term. Research presented at the meeting confirmed that many mothers do not understand the importance of exclusive breastfeeding, even when healthy and even giving water to a baby under six months old can lead to illnesses and malnutrition.

    A researcher/microbiologist at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Dr  Adesina Adeiga, said children with severe malnutrition will be highly susceptible to diseases especially measles. He explained: “Cells in the body need protein to develop and perform body activities. Due to less protein intake, the white blood cells will be poorly developed and will not be able to defend the body. This makes the immunity both at the cellular level and the soluble antibody to be highly compromised. This makes the children in this nutritional compromised situation to be susceptible to diseases and when they are not able to withstand the disease, they die in the process.”

    He however explained that Measles infection is vaccine preventable, “When children are immunised at nine months, they are protected from infection. This can only happen when they are not nutritionally compromised.

    “When there is poor nutrition or  problem of protein calorie malnutrition, they will not be able to develop immunity when vaccinated. When there are many of such children in the community, most of them will be infected in measles outbreak. But if many of the children develop immunity upon receiving measles vaccination, the unvaccinated children in such community will not be seriously affected in Measles outbreak unless the vaccine is of poor quality,” he stated.

    Immunization: Measles (% of children ages 12-23 months) in Nigeria was last measured at 51 in 2014, according to the World Bank. Child immunization measures the percentage of children ages 12-23 months who received vaccinations before 12 months or at any time before the survey. A child is considered adequately immunized against measles after receiving one dose of vaccine.

    “Immunity of the children in the community is called Herd Immunity. When there is high herd immunity, the spread of measles during outbreak is very low. But if the herd immunity is low, which can occur when there is severe malnutrition. This can cause mass death of children from measles infection,” Adeiga said.

    Mrs Bukola Shonibare of Adopt-A-Camp is of the opinion that a child can win the war against malnutrition, nay any childhood disease, as evidence by the output of her NGO activities that saw some of these malnourished children bounce back, after feeding them adequately.

    One wonders where all the money budgeted for such have gone. For a study by Displacement Tracking Matrix/DTM Round II Report (February 2015) revealed that households in 20 states have access to food distribution. In terms of frequency, 13 sites receive food distribution every day; another 13 sites receive irregular food distribution. In three sites (all located in Adamawa) individuals have never received food distribution. Households in all sites with the exception of one reported having no supplementary feeding for children or breastfeeding mothers. Screening for malnutrition has not been conducted in 27 sites.

    This does not sit well with Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN).

    CS-SUNN believes without good nutrition, human mind and body cannot function well. Malnourished children have an increased risk of disability and premature death and are highly predisposed to infectious diseases.

    It explained that nutrition programs and interventions are still largely under funded by government at all levels.

    “Hence strategic actions needs to be taken to reduce malnutrition, the window of opportunity is the first 1000 days of life- a critical time for physical and mental development of a child. By making extra effort through investing in maternal nutrition, Infant and young child feeding (MIYCF), Nigeria can stop the death of about 700000 children every year, and mitigate human pain of families that lose their children,” it stated.