Lagos, Borno, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, and Kano states have the highest number of people experiencing crises of food and nutrition insecurity in the country, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

UNICEF stated that according to the Cadre Harmonisé report, 26 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of Nigeria, a total of 17.6 million Nigerians were in crisis due to the emergency situation of food and nutrition insecurity.

The report further revealed that between March to May this year, the top five food and nutrition insecure states were: Lagos, 1,596,099; Borno, 1,553,499; Katsina, 1,314,123; Kaduna, 1,222,929; Jigawa, 1,063,633; and Kano, 1,006,542.

UNICEF, therefore, urged Federal and State Governments to ramp up interventions and domestic funding for nutrition across the country, particularly for children, as this will not only impact their survival but will impact their overall socio-economic contributions to society.

Speaking in Port Harcourt during a media dialogue on child malnutrition, with a focus on nutrition financing, UNICEF’s Communication Specialist, Geoffrey Njoku called for increased budgetary allocation for nutrition, and the timely release of the funds.

He said: “We have a nutrition problem in Nigeria, and it is particularly bad for children. Although UNICEF and other partners are supporting Nigeria to combat malnutrition, the government is not putting enough money into ending the country’s nutrition problems. The government needs to put its own money into dealing with malnutrition.”

In her remarks, the Head of the Child Rights Information Department of the Federal Ministry of Information, Najaatu Hassan, who was represented by Temitoye Falayi said: “Through the media, we have achieved some success in the nutrition space, however, we can do more. We want the Federal Government to commit more funds to nutrition for children and their future. We want to make sure that malnutrition is a thing of the past so that we can focus on other areas of children’s survival.”

In her presentation, Nkeiru Enwelum, nutrition officer of UNICEF said: “While there are 35 million children under the age of five in Nigeria, 12 million of them are stunted, and 3 million are wasted. Also, Nigeria is currently ranked first in Africa and second globally in terms of the number of children who are malnourished.

“The government must therefore commit more money for health, and ensure that there is more health for the money committed through accountability and transparency mechanisms. Also, mothers need to exclusively breastfeed their babies for at least six months, which will guarantee their physical and mental growth and development,” she added. (The Nation)

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