FG targets child malnutrition in 774 LGAs, seeks nutrition law

The Federal Government has unveiled a nationwide plan to tackle child malnutrition through coordinated interventions across Nigeria's 774 local government areas, while urging the National Assembly to accelerate the passage of the proposed National Nutrition Bill.

The initiative, known as Nutrition 774, is designed to strengthen nutrition services at the grassroots and ensure that government commitments translate into measurable improvements in the health of women and children.

Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja, warning that the country's malnutrition burden posed a serious threat to human capital development.

Hadejia, who represented Vice President Kashim Shettima at a nutrition side event of the 2026 Health Sector-Wide Joint Annual Review, said about 40 per cent of Nigerian children under five were stunted.

He described the situation as a major national concern, insisting that nutrition should be treated as a development priority rather than merely a social expenditure.

He said the administration of President Bola Tinubu was committed to placing human capital development at the centre of its Renewed Hope Agenda.

According to Hadejia, the Federal Executive Council has approved the National Policy on Food and Nutrition and the National Nutrition Bill for transmission to the National Assembly.

He appealed to federal lawmakers to give the proposed legislation speedy consideration, arguing that its passage would provide a stronger legal foundation for implementing the country's nutrition commitments.

"The National Council on Nutrition, chaired by the Vice President, is working to bring different sectors of government together to address malnutrition through a coordinated national response," he said.

Under Nutrition 774, federal, state and local governments are expected to operate a unified delivery framework to ensure that interventions reach households across the country.

Hadejia said the initiative would require functional Local Government Committees on Food and Nutrition, costed multisectoral action plans, dedicated budget lines and clearly defined schedules for releasing approved funds.

He also called for monthly nutrition data submissions by local governments and quarterly performance scorecards to track funding, implementation, service coverage and actual outcomes.

"Appropriation without release is not delivery, and release without verification is not accountability," he said.

The presidential aide urged state governors and local government chairmen to take ownership of the programme by establishing the necessary structures, funding their plans and ensuring timely release of resources.

He also called on development partners to align their interventions with government priorities and urged the private sector to contribute investment, innovation and supply-chain capacity.

In his keynote address, Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr Adekunle Salako, said the ongoing primary healthcare reforms offered an opportunity to expand access to nutrition services nationwide.

Salako said nutrition should become an integral part of routine healthcare delivery, noting that antenatal visits, immunisation sessions and community health workers' home visits could help identify and address nutritional deficiencies.

He said the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative and the Sector-Wide Approach had established a coordinated framework for planning, budgeting and reporting across federal and state governments.

Providing an update on the reforms, the minister said maternal case fatality rates in facilities supported by the Basic Health Care Provision Fund had dropped by about 60 per cent since 2024.

He added that primary healthcare utilisation had risen from approximately 10 million visits in early 2024 to 45 million visits per quarter by mid-2025.

Salako also disclosed that more than 15,000 community-based health workers had been recruited, while over 78,000 frontline health workers had undergone retraining, as the government targets 120,000 by 2027.

He said the existing healthcare infrastructure would provide a platform for delivering nutrition interventions rather than relying on isolated campaigns.

The interventions include multiple micronutrient supplements for pregnant women, breastfeeding and infant-feeding counselling, vitamin A supplementation, deworming, growth monitoring and early detection and treatment of child wasting.

The minister stressed the need to adequately fund nutrition commodities and integrate them into the primary healthcare supply chain.

He urged state governments to explore matching financing arrangements, including the Child Nutrition Fund, to sustain interventions through domestic resources.

Salako also called for nutrition indicators to be included in the health sector's performance framework and Joint Annual Review scorecards to enable regular assessment of progress.

He said his ministry would collaborate with the Office of the Vice President and the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning to ensure that local government nutrition data generated through Nutrition 774 would be reviewed at subsequent Joint Annual Reviews.

"What the SWAp has done for health, Nutrition 774 will do for nutrition: one goal, one plan, one budget, one report," he said.

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Daju Kachollom, said Nigeria must move beyond policy declarations to large-scale implementation of proven nutrition interventions.

She identified agriculture, education, water and sanitation, food systems, social protection, gender and economic empowerment as critical sectors requiring coordinated action to address malnutrition.

Kachollom said the National Policy on Food and Nutrition 2026–2035, the Nutrition 774 initiative and the National Strategic Plan of Action on Nutrition had provided important frameworks for accelerating progress.

She also highlighted the Nigeria Governors' Forum's Addis Ababa Commitment on Nutrition as an opportunity to strengthen governance, financing and accountability.

The permanent secretary said the ministry would continue to improve community-based nutrition services, strengthen data systems and mobilise sustainable funding.

She added that the government would support mother-to-mother groups to promote appropriate infant and young child feeding practices.

Kachollom urged participants at the meeting to develop practical recommendations that would translate national commitments into measurable responsibilities and deliverables across the 774 local government areas.