Stakeholders have called for increased resource allocation and accountability to tackle malnutrition challenge in the country.
They attributed the challenges to weak accountability mechanisms, poor resource allocation, coordination challenges, and data gaps.
This was disclosed in Abuja at the CASCADE Legislative Convening on Nutrition and Food Security for Bauchi, Jigawa, Kebbi, and Nasarawa States organised by CARE International Nigeria and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).
The Chairman of the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Chike Okafor, while calling for increased budgetary commitment, efficient fund management, and leveraging donor and private sector funding to strengthen resource allocation, urged development partners and international NGOs to be transparent in their funding activities.
Read Also; Tinubu pledges commitment to promoting independence of judiciary
On how to tackle malnutrition, he said: “Hunger and food insecurity is a time bomb and the key to ending malnutrition is effective legislative oversight, increased budgetary allocation to nutrition interventions at the federal, state and local government levels, and review of extant practices and laws that promote food insecurity, like the case of multiple taxation of food products on transit from one part of the country to another.
“For legislative oversight, we need stronger parliamentary committees’ presence to monitor nutrition commitments and expenditures and track budgetary allocations not only for those from the government but also those involving development partners. Unfortunately, there is a high level of opacity in the funding activities of development partners and international NGOs with regard to Nutrition Interventions in Nigeria. This is not the case in many other developing Countries.
“I urge these partners in Nigerian to show more transparency, and open their books for more scrutiny. We do not want to revoke our constitutional rights to get this done”.
He also said there should be performance-based incentives to boost results.
“Rewarding local governments or agencies that meet nutrition targets is a more pragmatic motivator than current initiatives that reward poor performing states with poor nutrition indices by investing more funds there, akin to pouring water into a basket. Whoever does well should be encouraged with more funding so that those who aren’t doing well could learn from their peers and sit up accordingly”.
Speaking on behalf of CARE and GAIN, the Ag. Country Director of CARE International Nigeria, Jennifer Orgle explained that the CASCADE project was launched in 2023 to contribute to ending malnutrition among 1.1 million women of reproductive age and children under the age of 5 in Nigeria.
She commended the federal government for its commitment to ending malnutrition in the country.
Orgle said: “The Federal Government’s recent call to action in improving coordination, financing, and accountability in food and nutrition demonstrates its commitment to securing food and nutrition security for all, especially, women and children”.
She said despite advancements made, limited allocation of adequate funding by state governments for nutrition-sensitive interventions undermines the joint efforts to comprehensively address malnutrition.