Local government chairmen in Cross River State have pledged to fund nutrition programmes and mobilise communities to reduce child malnutrition, as UNICEF raised concerns over exclusive breastfeeding and persistent stunting among children.
The chairmen gave the commitment on Wednesday in Calabar at a high-level engagement meeting organised by the Cross River State Planning Commission in collaboration with UNICEF, with funding from Latter-day Saints Charities.
The project targets children during the first 1,000 days of life, from conception to a child’s second birthday, and will be implemented in nine selected local government areas in the state.
The leadership of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria in Cross River State pledged to integrate nutrition into council development plans and support community mobilisation to ensure the programme reaches vulnerable families.
Speaking at the meeting, Nutrition Specialist at UNICEF’s Enugu Field Office, Dr Ngozi Onuora, said Cross River was among five states selected for the Latter-day Saints Charities-funded project being implemented by the United Nations agency.
She described the first 1,000 days as a critical period for a child’s physical growth and brain development, warning that poor feeding practices continued to affect children’s health and development.
Onuora said Cross River had recorded some progress, with stunting declining from 23 per cent in 2018 to 21 per cent in 2024, while the proportion of children receiving minimum dietary diversity increased from 23 per cent to 51 per cent over the same period.
However, she said about 80 per cent of children aged zero to six months were still not receiving appropriate exclusive breastfeeding, while one in every five children remained stunted.
A major contributing factor is poor infant and young child feeding practices, she said, adding that the intervention would focus on training health workers, promoting exclusive breastfeeding and timely complementary feeding, and encouraging home gardening and small livestock production.
Onuora urged the Cross River Government to invest in the Child Nutrition Fund, through which UNICEF matches state contributions to procure nutrition products, including small-quantity lipid-based supplements, multiple micronutrient supplements for pregnant women and ready-to-use therapeutic foods.
She clarified that the fund was not a cash grant to ministries, departments and agencies, but was converted into nutrition commodities distributed through health facilities after eligible children had been screened.
The arrangement, she said, was designed to ensure that the intervention reached beneficiaries and reduce the risk of political interference.
Lead facilitator and independent nutrition consultant, Ada Ezeogu, said tackling malnutrition required more than making food available, stressing the need for proper caregiving, sanitation and access to health facilities.
“You need the food, you need the caring practices, and then you need the healthy environment, which has to do with sanitation and health facilities,” Ezeogu said.
She urged families to ensure that pregnant women received nutritious diets, antenatal care and recommended supplements, including iron and folic acid, while providing children with appropriate foods as they grew.
Responding, Cross River State ALGON Chairman, Chief Chris Agbeh, represented by Ogoja Local Government Council Secretary, Chief Alex Atem, said the councils would establish dedicated budget lines for nutrition, support counterpart funding and intensify awareness campaigns at ward level.
He said the local governments were committed to ensuring the project's success and reducing child stunting to below 10 per cent, in line with global targets.
Cross River is one of the 10 states covered by UNICEF’s Enugu Field Office. The new intervention seeks to build on recent progress while addressing gaps in infant feeding and access to essential nutrition services.
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