The National Economic Council FEC has approved several critical resolutions aimed at enhancing the country’s nutritional outcomes.
Rising from the NEC meeting held at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, in Abuja, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Ali Pate disclosed that the council agreed to prioritize nutrition interventions in the 2025 budget across federal, state, and local levels, ensuring that sufficient funding is allocated to meet the nation’s nutrition goals.
The Minister said the council also resolved to reinforce the functionality and financing of State and Local Government Committees on Food and Nutrition.
He stated that the establishment and operation of Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) task forces at subnational levels will also be supported to ensure effective coordination, monitoring, and reporting.
According to Pate, the Council also endorsed the N-774 programme as a primary platform for combating malnutrition within Nigerian communities and encouraged development partners to provide financial and technical assistance, particularly in the areas of annual results monitoring and scaling successful interventions.
“There was a conversation around the state of nutrition in Nigeria, because nutrition is key to Nigeria’s human Capital Development and the need for federal government’s effort to deliver relief, but also to be complemented by the state government.
” Key decisions were taken to include a food and nutrition security Task Force, which we have already established at the federal government level, but states will also mirror that, which is a multi sectoral governance and coordination platform to ensure that we address the challenge of accurate malnutrition, ordering malnutrition, and over time.
“So that states also have lined items for budget on nutrition, just as federal government itself will also do that. So we plan to deliver the interventions in a multi sectoral way that will ensure that our children grow to be healthy, have the cognitive capacity that will drive the prosperity that is in our future.
“Thirdly, that our development partners to cooperate at the federal level, but also at the state level, to coordinate and mobilize their resources to complement what the governments are placing on the table, Grant financing through children’s nutrition fund or either resources which could be complementary to the grant financing to help address the challenge that we see on nutrition”, he said.
He said the government will be distributing multiple micronutrient supplements that have been mobilized free.
” 1.3 million doses have already been distributed, and each one of those, 1.3 million packages will serve a pregnant woman six months that will be for the mother, but also for her child, because the first 1000 days, including the period of gestation, are important for the brain development of our children.
“So that distribution is being done in collaboration with the State governments as well programmatic elements procurement of the commodities states will complement, but federal government has mobilized resources through iron and through other mechanisms to ensure that we deliver ready to use therapeutic foods and locally adapted foods that will rebuild the strength of our children and strengthen our mothers so that we have a healthier population over time, training that we have already conducted”, he said.
Meanwhile, In his update on the financial status of the nation, the Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru said the Excess Crude Account currently stands at $473,754.57, the Natural Resources Fund has a balance of N3,451,078,538.57, while the Stabilization Account holds N33,875,398,389.75.
