Vice President Kashim Shettima has said the Federal Government will accelerate work on a National Food and Nutrition Bill to protect nutrition financing and strengthen accountability beyond the tenure of successive administrations.
Shettima made the disclosure on Wednesday at the Nigeria-Ethiopia Nutrition Leadership Exchange Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, the proposed legislation would strengthen the Federal Government’s Nutrition 774 Initiative and deepen collaboration among the federal, state and local governments in tackling malnutrition, beginning at the community level.
“We are convinced that, with nutrition committees in 32 state houses of assembly, 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 said.
The Vice President disclosed that Nigeria’s $26 million commitment to the Child Nutrition Fund had attracted matching support, bringing the total funding to $52 million.
He added that 21 states had contributed $6.3 million since 2023 towards supplies for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition.
Shettima 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,” he said, adding that the government was strengthening systems that link public expenditure to measurable nutrition outcomes through scorecards and improved domestic financing.
He 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.
According to Shettima, the urgency of the reforms was underscored by the fact that 40 per cent of Nigerian children under five are affected by stunting, while undernutrition costs the economy an estimated $56 billion annually.
“We act to protect learning. We act to preserve earnings. We act to project productivity,” he said.
The Vice President said nutrition committees had also been established in more than 450 local government areas, while efforts were being made to strengthen state councils and delivery capacity at all levels.
He said the Nutrition 774 Initiative provides a framework for coordinated action by the three tiers of government, with state governors and local government chairmen expected to lead implementation in their respective areas.
“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.
Shettima added that the Federal Government was engaging food vendors, small and medium-sized enterprises, manufacturers, financiers and regulators through its Private Sector Engagement Framework to improve the availability and affordability of nutritious food.
He said the government was also working with industry and regulators to strengthen compliance with fortification requirements for salt, flour, edible oil and sugar.
Shettima said Nigeria and Ethiopia would work towards a joint statement setting out continued cooperation on nutrition.
“Nigeria and Ethiopia owe Africa an example worthy of its children,” he said.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Temesgen Tiruneh, who declared the forum open, said improving nutrition required sustained political leadership, financing and accountability at every level of government, supported by systems that track implementation and results.
He said more than 100,000 Ethiopian children had been protected from malnutrition through community mobilisation and improvements in the nutritional value of the food they consume.
Ethiopia’s Minister of Health, Dr Mekdes Daba, said the exchange focused on child malnutrition, particularly the Seqota Declaration, Ethiopia’s national commitment to end child stunting by 2030.
Daba said stunting affected more than children’s physical development, noting that poor nutrition could impair brain development, affect school performance, reduce future earnings and slow economic growth.
Members of the Nigerian delegation, including governors and ministers, pledged greater investment in technology, financing, education and food systems to strengthen the country’s nutrition value chain.
The delegation included the governors of Jigawa, Umar Namadi; Zamfara, Dauda Lawal; Osun, Ademola Adeleke; and Abia, Alex Otti.
Also present were the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Ali Pate; the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari; the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev; and the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa.
Others included the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Zubaida Umar; the Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Muyi Aina; the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health, Uju Rochas-Anwukah; and the National President of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Bello Lawal.
On the sidelines of the forum, Shettima and Tiruneh held a bilateral meeting to review relations between Nigeria and Ethiopia and explore deeper cooperation in trade, investment, food security, aviation and security.
Tiruneh expressed Ethiopia’s condolences to Nigeria over the recent Ondo aircraft crash and said his country attached great importance to its relationship with Nigeria.
He also welcomed progress on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Agreement between both countries, called for the convening of the Nigeria-Ethiopia Joint Commission and commended growing private-sector cooperation, including investments by the Dangote Group in Ethiopia.
Shettima reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to deepening bilateral relations and strengthening the Joint Commission framework.
He also commended Ethiopia’s progress in agriculture and domestic value addition, stressing the need for stronger intra-African investment under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
“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,” he said.
