Vice President Kashim Shettima has raised alarm that malnutrition is depriving about 40 percent of Nigerian children under the age of five of their full physical and cognitive potential.
Speaking on Tuesday at the National Summit on Nutrition and Food Security, Shettima said the federal government has launched the Nutrition 774 Initiative, a grassroots-focused programme aimed at addressing malnutrition in the country’s most neglected communities.
The summit, organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, was part of the House’s Open Week activities.
Represented by Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Office of the Vice President), Shettima said President Bola Tinubu’s administration has repositioned nutrition as a core pillar of Nigeria’s national development agenda.
He noted that the Nutrition 774 Initiative has been approved by the National Council on Nutrition, which he chairs, and commended both the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly for establishing a National Legislative Network on Nutrition and Food Security.
“The Initiative is designed to have a direct impact in the most forgotten corners of our nation,” Shettima said, adding that urgent, coordinated action is needed to address Nigeria’s alarming nutrition crisis.
He said, “We have witnessed the establishment of the National Legislative Network on Nutrition and Food Security and the replication of this committee across all 36 State Houses of Assembly. This is, without question, an unprecedented stride in our legislative engagement. Yet we must admit that the occasion that brings us here today is not a celebration.
“It is a reminder of the burden that we bear, a malnutrition crisis that continues to rob nearly 40% of Nigerian children under five of their physical and cognitive potential. It is a reminder that food insecurity is not only about hunger. It is also about whether our people can afford, access, and accept the food that meets their nutritional needs.
“It is about the economy. It is about education. It is about the very building blocks of human capital that this nation so urgently needs at this time of its development.
“But in the face of this adversity, we have chosen not to lament, but to lead. Under the Renewed Hope Agenda of His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, nutrition has been repositioned as a central pillar of our national development strategy. At the heart of this strategy lies the Nutrition 774 Initiative, our flagship grassroots framework designed not for elegance on paper, but for impact in the most forgotten corners of our nation.
“Nutrition 774 is a living strategy. One that drives political commitment, secures sustainable financing, demands accountability, and galvanises collaboration across federal, state, and local governments. Its genius lies in its simplicity to empower every local government area in this country to act based on its unique needs, its cultural dynamics, and its resource realities. The National Economic Council and the National Council on Nutrition have both endorsed this framework.
“And to anchor it further, we have inaugurated the Nutrition 774 Strategic Board, a high-level governance body tasked with overseeing and steering the implementation of this initiative. It is a board of doers. It includes legislators, civil society actors, and government technocrats.
“This is how we institutionalise accountability. This is how we end the season of rhetoric and usher in a season of results. In this quest, we are not alone.
“We are grateful to the World Bank for the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria program, strengthening community-based nutrition systems in several states. We appreciate UNICEF and Médecins Sans Frontières for the community-based management of acute malnutrition CMAM program, reaching the most vulnerable with lifesaving interventions. We recognise the ICAM project by GAIN, which marries nutrition with climate-smart agriculture, and the Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation Program, MMS, by Nutrition International, combating maternal anaemia and improving pregnancy outcomes.
“To all our other developmental partners, civil society actors, and private sector allies, we thank you. But let me say this clearly: the era of fragmented interventions is over. We can no longer afford parallel systems that dilute our collective strength.
“It is time to align. Align with Nutrition 774, align with the national strategy, and align with the urgency of our national purpose. Nigeria needs one plan, one voice, one framework, and unified accountability. Anything less is a betrayal of the children who depend on us. To our distinguished legislators, this is your call to leadership.
“Budgetary allocations for nutrition must be consistent, adequate, and safeguarded. Oversight functions must transcend audits. They must measure impact. Policies must not die in chambers. They must live in communities. And legislation must guarantee that nutrition financing is not a matter of charity, but that of justice. Let this summit not be remembered for its attendance, but for its resolve.
“We are not just here to discuss the problems. We are here to write a new chapter, a chapter in which no Nigerian child is too poor to eat right. A chapter where malnutrition is not just treated, but prevented. A chapter in which we measure our national wealth not just by barrels of oil, but by the nourishment of our citizens.
“So, I leave you with this solemn charge: whether you are a lawmaker, a technocrat, a developmental partner, or a community leader, rally behind one vision to end malnutrition and food insecurity in Nigeria. Let this be the summit that unites our resolve, that aligns our resources, and that feeds not just our bellies, but our dreams, because a nourished nation is a secure nation.
“A nourished child is a child ready to learn. Nourished people are the engine of prosperity, and in this fight, there can be no spectators, only believers, only builders, only Nigerians. And with this, I formally declare this summit open”.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, lamented the toll of inaction on nutrition is having on the country, saying the statistics were staggering.
Abbas said, “Credible estimates place the annual economic cost at 12.2 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross National Income, approximately fifty-six billion dollars, while post-harvest losses alone account for two billion dollars each year. Such figures compel us to move beyond rhetoric to concrete, sustained interventions.
“To that end, the Committee is collaborating with stakeholders in all 36 States to transition from policy pronouncements to on-the-ground impact. Through capacity-building workshops and cross-sectoral consultations, we are addressing the root causes of malnutrition and strengthening the systems needed for rapid and effective response.
“Nigeria has every potential to become Africa’s food basket. Our vast arable lands and resilient farming communities position us to lead on food production and nutrition. We are championing the mainstreaming of nutrition-sensitive programmes into federal and state budgets and advocating policy reforms to institutionalise robust oversight and accountability.
“Currently, before the National Assembly are two transformative legislative initiatives. The first proposes six months’ maternity leave for nursing mothers, in alignment with global best practice to support early childhood nutrition and maternal health.
“The second aims to eradicate the unsafe sale of edible bulk oil in open markets, a practice that undermines public health and safety. Both measures are rooted in our commitment to protect the most vulnerable and invest in the nation’s future”.
The Speaker said Nigeria can no longer tolerate multiple levies on food transporters that drive up prices, nor should development partners serve simultaneously as implementers and monitors of nutrition programmes without clear accountability.
He said, “It is unacceptable to secure loans for future generations without legislative oversight of disbursement and impact. Local governments, too, must align their nutrition budgets within a coherent national framework, subject to rigorous review.
“Under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, human capital development is central to our national transformation. Let this summit renew our collective resolve, synchronise our efforts and deliver a blueprint for measurable progress. We owe it to the children who go to bed hungry, to the mothers who struggle to nourish their families and to the generations yet unborn whose destiny we shape today”.
Chairman of the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Chike Okafor, said beyond the health effects of malnutrition and lack of food, which include Stunting, low birth weight, anaemia in children, adolescent girls and women, there is a considerable cost.
Okafor said, “The cost of inaction on these parameters on Nigeria’s economy is aggregated to about 12.2% of the Country’s Gross National Income, about $56b, based on data from Nutrition International, I and the World Bank.
He explained, “Food insecurity has been aggravated by post-harvest loss, estimated at $2b by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) yearly. This colossal loss alone is more than the Nutrition budget of the Ministries of Agriculture, Health, Education and Women Affairs put together.
“This continued loss is not only unacceptable, but unsustainable given the austere times in which we currently live. On the above premise, my committee is working with those in the 36 states of the federation to do things differently”.
He said the House is undertaking strategic capacity-building sessions to have a better understanding of the root and dynamics of current nutrition and food security challenges in Nigeria and expressed hope that the capacity-building sessions are institutionalised in partnership with the National Institute of Democratic and Legislative Studies, with support from our ever-helpful development partners.
He said, “This will put us in a better position to provide strategic oversight to all nutrition and food-related interventions and implementing partners, including but not limited to the UN family, the World Bank, International and National NGOs, and of course the government at Federal, State and Local Government levels. By doing so, we will not only have more money for nutrition, but also more nutrition for the available money.
“We cannot continue to impose multiple levies on long articulated vehicles carrying food from one part of Nigeria to another, and expect food inflation to reduce. This is why the new Nigeria Tax Administration Act 2025 (NTAA), which introduces a unified procedural framework for the assessment, collection, enforcement and administration of taxes across all levels of government, is a welcome development. The President, His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, deserves our commendation for this bold initiative.
“We now need proper sensitisation on the benefits of this tax law, which in the next couple of months will be reflecting on nutrition and food security and the Nigerian economy generally. We cannot continue to allow Development Partners to implement and oversee themselves on nutrition interventions, and expect better transparency and value for money.
“We cannot continue to borrow huge sums of money from multilateral institutions for nutrition interventions, and we don’t have a say as to how taxpayers’ money will be best spent, or ask questions if there are, to prevent infractions. We cannot continue to allow LGAs to invest in nutrition and food security outside the existing national guidelines and frameworks, without recourse to legislative oversight at state and local government levels.
“We cannot continue to fold our hands and our harvested food products rot away due to poor market access, or lack of access to the farmlands due to local insecurity. The time for action should have been yesterday, not now. But it is still not too late to act now”.
