Reps intensify legislative push to tackle food insecurity

States move to scale down N774 initiative

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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja

The House of Representatives has said it is intensifying efforts to proffer legislative solutions to food insecurity in the country, with the conclusion of committee hearing on a bill to establish the Nutrition Registration Council.

In the aftermath of the public hearing, the House is set for a clause-by-clause consideration of the proposed legislation, before its eventual passage into law.

The committee chairman, Chika Okafor, had stated during the public hearing, that “Ultimately, the measure of this bill will not be the creation of another institution but whether it strengthens professional competence, protects Nigerians from harmful or misleading advice and improves the quality of nutrition services available to the public.”

This is as state governments have said that they are poised to scale down the Federal Government Nutrition 774 Initiative, which is geared towards addressing nutritional challenges across all the local government areas across the country.

The state governments, who recently concluded a three-day Ethiopia-Nigeria Nutrition Leadership Exchange Forum in Addis Ababa, returned with a renewed commitment to strengthen the Nutrition 774 (N774) Initiative using practical lessons from Ethiopia’s experience in tackling malnutrition.

The sub-nationals pledged to deepen collaboration at the grassroots as Nigeria moves to translate its nutrition policies into measurable improvements in communities and households.

The engagement focused on how Ethiopia’s approach to multisectoral coordination, predictable financing and data-driven accountability can be adapted to Nigeria’s realities to improve nutrition outcomes at the community and household levels.

The exchange, it was gathered, featured engagements on broader developmental cooperation and Nigeria’s pressing malnutrition crisis, and the state governors shared their perspectives on how the lessons from Ethiopia would shape implementation in their states.

At the end of the three-day intensive strategic engagements by a high-powered Nigerian delegation in Ethiopia, both countries reaffirmed their commitment to sustained cooperation and knowledge exchange on nutrition and development.

The Vice President, Kashim Shettima, who led the Nigerian team, was quoted to have said that the knowledge gained from the three-day nutrition forum would be adapted to Nigeria’s realities, particularly in strengthening collaboration among the federal government, states and local governments, in order to improve nutrition outcomes at the community and household levels.

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