Shettima: FG to Fast-track Food, Nutrition Bill to Protect Funding, Instill Accountability

• Says country’s $26m nutrition commitment unlocked $52m matching fund

•Nigeria, Ethiopia deepen cooperation in security, aviation, trade, investment, food security

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

Vice President Kashim Shettima yesterday said Nigeria will accelerate work on a National Food and Nutrition Bill, as part of efforts to protect nutrition financing, strengthen accountability, and sustain interventions across successive administrations.

According to him, the proposed legislation would strengthen the federal government’s Nutrition 774 Initiative and deepen a compact among federal, state and local governments to deliver a unified response to malnutrition, beginning at the community level.

Speaking during the Nigeria-Ethiopia Nutrition Leadership Exchange Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Vice President said Nigeria’s National Policy on Food and Nutrition 2026–2035 had set targets to reduce the country’s stunting rate to 32 per cent by 2029, 28 per cent by 2032 and 25 per cent by 2035.

The Vice President noted that with nutrition committees already established in 32 State Houses of Assembly, the time was ripe to give the country’s nutrition response stronger legislative backing.

He explained: “We are convinced that, with nutrition committees in 32 state assemblies, there is no better time for us to accelerate the development of a National Food and Nutrition Bill and the advancement of a federal, state and local compact to protect financing and enforce accountability beyond administrations.”

Shettima disclosed that nutrition committees had also been established in more than 450 local governments, while the federal government was strengthening state councils and delivery capacity across all levels of government.

According to him, Nigeria’s Nutrition 774 Initiative provides a single framework that brings together all tiers of government, with governors and local government chairpersons expected to lead implementation within their respective jurisdictions.

“Each council, being the lowest tier of our system, is our unit of planning, financing and accountability. We are working with states on costed plans for priority councils, bringing health, agriculture, social protection, water, sanitation, hygiene and education to the same mother and child,” he said.

The Vice President also disclosed that Nigeria’s $26 million commitment to the Child Nutrition Fund attracted matching support, unlocking $52 million, while 21 states had contributed $6.3 million since 2023 for supplies aimed at preventing and treating malnutrition.

He said the proposed Presidential Nutrition Investment Fund would provide catalytic financing, while the Nutrition Financing Subcommittee was working to mobilise additional domestic resources.

“We can only claim that our budget fulfils its purpose when it nourishes a child,” Shettima stated, adding that the government was strengthening systems linking public expenditure to measurable nutrition outcomes through scorecards and stronger domestic financing.

He explained that the urgency of the reforms was underscored by the fact that 40 per cent of Nigerian children under five are affected by stunting, alongside an estimated annual economic cost of $56 billion from undernutrition.

He added: “We act to protect learning. We act to preserve earnings. We act to project productivity.”

The Vice President explained that the government was also engaging food vendors, small and medium enterprises, manufacturers, financiers and regulators through its Private Sector Engagement Framework to improve the availability and affordability of nutritious food.

Shettima said government was working with industry and regulators to strengthen compliance with fortification requirements for salt, flour, edible oil and sugar.

He added that Nigeria and Ethiopia would work towards a joint statement defining continued cooperation between both countries on nutrition.

“Nigeria and Ethiopia owe Africa an example worthy of its children,” the Vice President said.

Earlier, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Mr. Temesgen Tiruneh, who declared the forum open, said the longstanding relationship between Nigeria and Ethiopia could help shape Africa’s development trajectory.

He welcomed Nigeria’s interest in Ethiopia’s nutrition experience, noting that his country had placed food and nutrition at the centre of its development agenda.

According to him, improving nutrition requires sustained political leadership, financing and accountability at every level of government, backed by systems that track implementation and results.

“Over 100,000 children in Ethiopia have been protected from malnutrition through community mobilisation and improvements in the nutritional value of the food they eat,” Tiruneh said.

While highlighting Ethiopia’s experience, the Deputy Prime Minister said the exchange was mutually beneficial, noting that Ethiopia also had important lessons to learn from Nigeria’s approach to tackling malnutrition.

In her remarks, Ethiopia’s Minister of Health, Dr. Mekdes Daba, said the leadership exchange was focused on one of Africa’s most urgent development challenges, child malnutrition, with particular attention to Ethiopia’s Seqota Declaration, its national commitment to end child stunting by 2030.

She stressed that nutrition during the early years of life has far-reaching consequences for health, education and economic productivity.

“Stunting affects far more than a child’s physical growth. Poor nutrition can limit brain development, weaken school performance, reduce future earnings and slow national economic progress.

“Investing in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life is among the most important investments a country can make,” she said.

Daba explained that Ethiopia placed nutrition at the centre of its development agenda through the Seqota Declaration, guided by the principle that malnutrition cannot be defeated by one ministry or sector acting alone.

Members of the Nigerian delegation, including governors and ministers who spoke at the forum, pledged to strengthen Nigeria’s nutrition value chain through greater investment in technology, financing, education and food systems to improve food and nutrition security.

Meanwhile, the Vice President and Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Temesgen Tiruneh, held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the forum, where both leaders reviewed relations between Nigeria and Ethiopia and explored opportunities for deeper cooperation in trade, investment, food security, aviation and security.

Tiruneh, who conveyed Ethiopia’s condolences to Nigeria over the recent Ondo air crash, said his country places a high premium on its relations with Nigeria, particularly as both nations are among Africa’s most populous countries.

He explained that Ethiopia’s decision to treat nutrition as an economic and development issue led to the launch of the 15-year Seqota Declaration in 2015, beginning with communities most affected by malnutrition before expanding to about half of the country.

The Deputy Prime Minister also welcomed progress on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement signed by both countries, called for the convening of the Nigeria-Ethiopia Joint Commission, and commended growing private-sector cooperation, including the Dangote Group’s investment in Ethiopia.

Responding, Shettima reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to deepening bilateral relations with Ethiopia, saying both countries have a responsibility to leverage their population, resources and strategic positions for Africa’s development.

He commended Ethiopia’s progress in agriculture and domestic value addition, while stressing the need for stronger intra-African investment under the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The Vice President also assured the Ethiopian side of Nigeria’s commitment to the Joint Commission framework and said both countries should expand cooperation in investment, agriculture, economic development and security.

According to him, with global growth increasingly shifting towards Africa and the continent blessed with a young population, Nigeria and Ethiopia must provide the leadership required to unlock Africa’s enormous potential.

Members of the Nigerian delegation included Governors of Jigawa, Malam Umar Namadi; Zamfara, Dr. Dauda Lawal; Osun, Senator Ademola Nurudeen Adeleke, and Abia, Dr. Alex Otti.

Also in attendance were the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate; Ministers of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari; Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Atiku Bagudu; Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Terlumun Utsev, and Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa.

Others were the Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Zubaida Abubakar Umar; Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Muyi Aina; Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health and Focal Person on Nutrition, (Office of the Vice President), Uju Vanstasia Rochas-Anwukah and the National President, Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Hon. Bello Lawal.