The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled States have adopted a proposed framework for Common Policy Initiatives on Promoting Child Nutrition in states ruled by the party.
The APC States also agreed on increased commitment and political will towards improving child nutrition in the APC States through enhancing resource mobilisation and incorporating in the annual budget both nutrition-specific interventions and programmes and nutrition-sensitive programmes.
They equally resolved to engage with critical stakeholders to explore cross-sectoral opportunities for child nutrition interventions at all levels.
These resolutions were reached at the end of the teleconference meeting of the Secretaries to Governments of APC States and Progressives Governors Forum (PGF) Governance Programme Steering Committee with the theme: “Developing Common Policy Initiatives on Promoting Child Nutrition”.
According to a communique’ issued at the weekend in Abuja and made available to journalists, the APC States agreed to plan and implement nutrition policy interventions and programmes that will be sustainable and resilient to the impacts of COVID-19 and the associated economic fallouts.
The communique’ signed by Simon Lalong, Governor of Plateau State and Mohammed Badaru-Abubakar, Governor of Jigawa State, the Co-Chairmen of PGF Governance Programme Steering Committee, called on APC States to develop and strengthen legislation, policies, strategies and action plans with measurable outcomes for nutritional and related interventions, including pregnant women, youth, and other vulnerable households.
The governors are also required to leadership and ownership in the coordination and strengthening of child nutrition programmes and interventions by ensuring appropriate synergy between Ministries, Agencies and Departments, Local Governments, Development Partners, the Civil Society Partners, and the Private Sector.
Also, a part of their roles, they are expected to have a collective meeting with Development partners that would essentially focus on domestication of FG and PGF policies on child nutrition in each APC state.
The communique also directed the APC states to enhance sensitisation, awareness, enlightenment, education, and other complementary activities, particularly at community levels on child nutrition and related issues.
They are also to encourage interactions with farmers and entrepreneurs along the value chain in the local communities to develop a better understanding of how to participate and increase knowledge of nutrition and food security, and related environmental factors (such as climate change).
In the same way, they are to explore ways to strengthen advocacy for the homegrown school feeding programme and make accountability part of its implementation in the APC States.
“Create a template that reflects the current status of each APC state on policies, implementation challenges and gaps as well as sustainability and also serve as a framework for peer learning, sharing of best practices and peer review amongst the APC states to ensure that they all are working collectively to align their nutrition policies with those of the Federal Government of Nigeria”, the governors also said.
In his opening remarks, the Co-Chairman of PGF Governance Programme Steering Committee, Lalong decried the widespread crisis of child malnutrition among children under five years of age in Nigeria and the associated wasting, stunting, low cognitive ability among children, and the resultant low learning capabilities after they have become adults.
He explained that the issue of malnutrition and undernourishment is a social, economic and developmental challenge that must be addressed holistically, as part of the nation’s commitment towards the attainment of the United Nations Social Development Goals (UN-SDGs) and meeting the target of zero hunger in the country by 2030.
The Plateau Governor noted that Covid-19 pandemic has introduced entirely new dimensions to the crisis of nutrition by aggravating and widening the scope of the problem beyond the children but including the adult population.
Lalong said of APC Governors were determined to put the issue of child nutrition on the front burner and develop an enduring framework that will not only address the challenge of child nutrition within the shortest time possible but also ensure that access to food by all vulnerable households is reasonably guaranteed at all times.
He affirmed the commitment of the APC Governors to initiate coordinated action and partnerships with critical stakeholders, including the Federal Government, the National and State Assemblies, development partners, Civil Society Organisations and the private sector.
The Chairman of Northern Governors Forum, called on the Secretaries to APC State Governments to broaden and share understanding of the issues relating to child nutrition in the respective APC States while deepening the scope of interventions that will bring beneficial outcomes.
