Reps Seek Collaboration To Tackle Hunger, Food Insecurity

House of Representatives, has called for effective collaboration between the government at national and sub-national level and Development Partners in the push to reduce malnutrition and improve food security across the country.

Chairman of the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Rep Chike Okafor made the call while presenting his welcome address during the launch of the National Legislative Network on Nutrition and Food Security and Investiture of Speaker Tajudeen Abbas as the National Patron of the network. The 2-day event also includes workshops for the newly constituted leadership of the State Houses of Assembly Committees on Nutrition & Food Security.

Okafor warned that so long as the poor are kept awake by hunger, the rich will not enjoy peaceful sleep.

He said: “Malnutrition and food insecurity remain a constant threat to socio-economic development in Nigeria, as much as it has become an existential threat. Worsening inflation has also aggravated this burden on ordinary Nigerians. Between the last time we met in Owerri, May 2-4 2024 ,with Speakers of State Houses of Assembly and today, food insecurity situation in Nigeria has worsened. There is, however, cause for optimism.

“The optimism we share stems from the fact that for the first time, attempts to tackle malnutrition and food insecurity will have a legislative push. Furthermore, this legislative perspective will be driven collectively and holistically, anchored on the joint effort of the committee at the National and State Houses of Assembly, driven by a joint work plan with flexibility for incorporation of state-specific exigencies”.

Okafor added: “This is the purpose of the formation of the National Network on Nutrition and Food Security which is being created at this meeting. We are all aware of the impact of multiple taxation on agricultural produce as they traverse from one part of Nigeria to the other. This has resulted in wide discrepancies in cost of food items like Maize, Beans, Millet, Soya Beans, Rice, Yams, etc from Birnin-Kebbi to Badary, Yola to Yenegoa, Azare to Aba, Okenne to Onitsha, Adamawa to Anambra States, etc.

“We need to address this distortion holistically through appropriate National and State legislations. Post-harvest losses have continued to be a source of concern to us, as it has also negatively impacted food security. It is time we provide a collective, strategic solution from a legislative lens. Malnutrition is now a potent negative threat to societal well-being more than ever before. Among children under 5, it progressively reduces their brain development, especially among stunted children.

“One can only imagine the kind of leadership stunted children will offer Nigeria in the next 30-40 years if the current rate of under-5 malnutrition and stunting is not reversed. We must step up efforts to upscale the management of malnutrition at community level, especially in the context of Legislation. Obesity among adults is also a form of malnutrition, and this poses a great risk to non-communicable diseases.

“As a committee, working with our counterparts in the states, we will see how to strengthen existing laws that address this, conscious of the fact that Non-Communicable diseases seem to be on the rise.”

He explained that the committee at her maiden retreat in Owerri with Development Partners and Speakers of State Houses of Assembly on May 2-4, 2024 developed and adopted a Work Plan covering June 2024 –December 2025; a period of 18 months.

“This plan, the first of its kind, contains innovative and strategic interventions jointly to be undertaken by the committee in the National and State Houses of Assembly to address malnutrition and food insecurity in the short and medium- term. Subsequently, at the end of 2025, we will develop that for 2026-2027.

“Given the holistic nature of this plan, involving extensive travels to the 36 states, detailed legal input, Policy reviews, and joint implementation monitoring and oversight, I call on development partners and other stakeholders to key in, and support the implementation of this strategic document.”

While delivering the keynote address, Speaker Tajudeen Abbas stressed the need for increased resource mobilization, legislation, and, more importantly, oversight on Nutrition and Food Security issues in Nigeria.

Rep Abbas, who was represented by his Deputy, Rep. Benjamin Kalu, explained that the Committee was created in response to current realties.

He said: “Nutrition and Food Security, especially in the context of the fact that current economic challenges have been worsened by hunger, inflation, and increasing poverty, all exacerbating food inflation.

“I must however admit that when this committee was conceived late 2023, we did not envisage that the country will be at this dire level of malnutrition and food insecurity.”

He maintained that optimum health, remains “a pre-requisite for economic development cannot be attained amidst malnutrition and food insecurity.

“Both are mutually antagonistic. Malnutrition, whether in the child, adolescent, or adult exposes the victims to health challenges on account of diminished capacity to fight infections occasioned by lowered immunity. Worse still, malnutrition is increasingly becoming a national security challenge not only in Nigeria, but in some other developing countries.

“In light of the above, I am pleased to identify with the Committee on Nutrition and Food Security of the House of Representatives, 10th National Assembly. I have already created a budget line for Nutrition and Food Security, which will enable activities to be captured statutorily in subsequent budget estimates under this sub-head.

“I urge this Committee to continue to provide the needed push to galvanize Federal and State level actors towards improved nutrition, especially among women, children and other vulnerable groups to guarantee Food Security in Nigeria.”

In his remarks, the Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Debo Ogundoyin reiterated the Network’s commitment to the reducing malnutrition and the promotion of food security.

Hon. Ogundoyin who doubles as the Chairman, the Conference of Speakers assured on his members’ commitment to the work plan adopted in Owerri earlier in the year.

He said: “You have my unwavering support to this Network and its work Plan. I am fully committed to galvanizing my esteemed colleagues across the country to join hands in removing legislative obstacles that perpetuate malnutrition and food insecurity. I am proud to see the collaboration between the National Assembly and the 36 State Houses of Assembly. This network will facilitate a unified approach to monitoring and implementing projects in nutrition and food security, ensuring that we meet our set objectives.

“We recognise that legislative action is crucial in driving the necessary reforms and policies to address these pressing issues. By working together, we can enact laws and implement measures that empower our people, protect vulnerable populations, and ensure access to nutritious food for all.

“Let us collaborate with stakeholders, engage with experts, and champion evidence-based solutions that will transform the lives of our constituents and secure a brighter future for generations to come.

“Together, we can make a significant impact in the fight against malnutrition and food insecurity. Let us seize this opportunity and work diligently towards a healthier and more prosperous Nigeria.”

On his part, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate, reinstated the Federal Government’s resolve to promote better health outcomes through effective collaborations including its partnership with the legislative network.

He also explained the importance of a multi-sectoral approach to improving the country’s health indices. He identified that improving nutrition and access to good food was integral to recording better health outcomes.

Pate opined that under-nutrition and over-nutrition must be jointly tackled by stakeholders at the summit.

The minister said, “Food security and nutrition as we know are key pillars of Mr. President’s Renewed Hope Agenda for Nigeria. And this is a long standing issue. For many years we struggled with stunting, we struggled with maternal malnutrition, acute malnutrition, household food insecurity but also the other side of under-nutrition.

“The under-nutrition is what we pay most attention to. It is acute and we need to deal with it. But, in reality, we have a triple burden of malnutrition in Nigeria. We have the under nutrition, acute hunger, malnutrition but we also have the over-nutrition which is contributing to the fast rate of growth of non-communicable diseases in Nigeria”.

“For the adults, hypertension, diabetes, coronary artery diseases are growing partly because of the food we eat; the processed food that we eat. And it’s important to know that under-nutrition also puts you at risk for getting over nutrition, because when you grow up and the cells are few, you grow horizontally. Non-communicable diseases are attributed to malnutrition of a different kind.

“Add micro-nutrients deficiency as the third nutrition deficiency that we are facing. So, in relation to this subject, it is not just the caloric deficiency but the diversity of the diet that we have. If you go to my village, we mostly eat Carbohydrates, few leaves and all of those.

“But, the diversity in terms of Lipid and Protein are also important to address these gaps including the micro-nutrients deficiency alongside water and sanitation, breast-feeding, infant and young child feeding. These are all important determinants for what we are seeing both in under-nutrition and over-nutrition”, he added.

Also speaking at the summit, the minister for Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu pledged Federal Government’s commitment to making adequate investments to boost nutrition and food security.

Bagudu while accepting that Nigeria didn’t make the right kind of investments in the past, added that the time has come for government to take the bull by the horns. The minister commended the House Committee for going beyond the national level to address a problem that affects millions of people.

He said: I recall when the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security was inaugurated, we were here. After a short while the Committees organised a retreat in Owerri Imo State, today they have done something equally commendable to mobilise the sub-nationals because, not only do we coordinate nutrition as a ministry, we are the secretariat for the management of our federalism.

“Nigeria is a federal state, we therefore recognise that indeed, what has been done by House of Representatives today, in saying that this is a problem of the national and sub-national levels of government is quite commendable. The nutrition and food security problem constitutionally relates to the mandate of the Federal, State and Local Governments. The ability to draw attention to this, to invest more in solving the problems involves the three tiers of government in our federal state”.

On his part, the minister for Agriculture, Senator Abubakar Kyari described the newly launched legislative network as a veritable platform to improve the health and well-being of the people through tackling food insecurity and malnutrition.

Kyari listed factors contributing to food insecurity to include, early marriage, high birth rates, climate change as well as banditry and terrorism. He also identified a lack of coherence in policy frameworks and an absence of sustainable funding.

He however assured that the Federal Government has adopted a multi-layered approach to solving the problems which has left millions of children stunted and hungry.

He said: “Despite these challenges, there are ongoing efforts by state and non-state actors to ameliorate the rising nutrition crisis in Nigeria. The Federal Government through the National Council on Nutrition which is chaired by the Vice President of Nigeria and housed in the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and stakeholders are pondering to provide solutions for the malnutrition challenges.

“This is why the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is working through the Nutrition Council on Nutrition to promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture within the broader agriculture system”.