Despite the increasing number of child malnutrition in Nigeria, report has shown that food insecurity is now widespread nationwide with Lagos, Borno, Katsina, Kaduna, Jigawa, and Kano states having the highest number of people experiencing food and nutrition insecurity in the country.
According to the Cadre Harmonisé report, a Government-led and UN-supported food and nutrition analysis, 26 States and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, a total of 17.6 million Nigerians were currently facing food insecurity due to the emergency situation of food and nutrition insecurity.
Speaking in Port Harcourt, Rivers state during a Two Day Media Dialogue on Child Malnutrition, with a Focus on Nutrition Financing, the United Nations Children’s Fund, Nutrition Officer, Nkeiru Enwelum, noted that the report showed that between March to May this year, the top five food and nutrition insecure states include; Lagos with 1,596,099; Borno, 1,553,499; Katsina, 1,314,123; Kaduna, 1,222,929; Jigawa, 1,063,633; and Kano, 1,006,542.
Enwelum who called for more investment in nutrition, particularly as the nation plans to come up with its next budget urged the three levels of government to come up with interventions and domestic funding for nutrition across the country.
She further states: “There are 35 million children under the age of five in Nigeria, 12 million of them are stunted, and 3 million are wasted. Nigeria is currently ranked first in Africa and second globally in terms of the number of children who are malnourished.”
For Enwelum, the Government must commit more money for health, and ensure that there is more health for the money committed through accountability and transparency mechanisms.
