Nigerian governors have blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and rising insecurity for the nation’s nutrition crisis.
The governors, under the aegis of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), spoke yesterday in Abuja through the forum’s Senior Health Advisor to the NGF, Ahmad Abdulwahab, at a two-day meeting to develop smart commitments on how to end nutrition crisis in the country.
The meeting, which was organised by the Civil Society Scaling up Nutrition in Nigeria (CSSUNN), in collaboration with Save the Children and Scaling up Nutrition Movement (SUN Movement), was attended by major stakeholders.
Abdulwahab admitted that nutrition remains a challenge as it accounted for 50 per cent of under-five deaths in the country.
The NGF health coordinator said: “Not just insecurity both COVID-19. Insecurity and COVID-19 has further worsened the problem of nutrition in the country but like I said nutrition is a priority for the governors and what they are trying to do is to ensure that all the necessary interventions that need to be done is being implemented.
“It is a big problem because Nigeria currently has the second highest number of stunting and when you look at under-five mortality you will find out that more than 50 per cent the underlying cause is nutrition.
“When you look at these scary statistics you will know that nutrition is something that we need to prioritise in this country. Reversing the trend is something that is doable. All what we need is to have the necessary enabling environment that will help the implementation of the various high impact interventions that we have.”
