“The council today approves the National Policy on Food and Nutrition (NPFN) for the country and following the approval, which is forming the basis of a National Multi sectoral Plan of Action for Food (NMPFAN) and Nutrition, there will be, going forward, a budget line for food and nutrition in all MDAs and hopefully in the three tiers of government in the country”. These were the words of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, during the Federal Executive Council Meeting held yesterday, Wednesday 8th September 2021 in Abuja. The approval of the NMPFAN 2021-2025 by the Federal Government comes barely 5 days, after the Nasarawa State government unveiled the state’s multisectoral plan of action for food and nutrition.
CS-SUNN congratulates the government of Nigeria, the National Committee on Food and Nutrition and all nutrition stakeholders on this feat. The approval of the NMPFAN 2021-2025, is a step in the right direction towards strengthening synergy among sectors as well as government and partners initiatives towards improving nutrition in Nigeria. If effectively implemented, the NMPFAN 2021-2025, will reduce the proportion of people who suffer malnutrition by 50 percent and increase exclusive breastfeeding rate to 65 percent in Nigeria. It also aims to reduce stunting rate among under-five-year-olds to 18 percent by 2025 through the scaling up of high-impact nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions.
CS-SUNN under the PINNS and SUN Movement Pooled Fund projects supported Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Nasarawa, Lagos, Enugu, Oyo, Kwara, Rivers and Imo state governments to domesticate the NPFN and the NMPFAN. It would interest you to know that Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Nasarawa, Lagos, Enugu and Oyo state governments have approved their States’ Policy on Food and Nutrition and States’ Multisectoral Plan of Action for Nutrition. However, Kwara, Imo and Rivers states are yet to.
Indeed, there is urgent need to scale up high impact and cost-effective nutrition interventions across the 36 states to reduce the worsening malnutrition situation in the country. Hopefully, the domestication of the NPFN and NMPFAN by states yet to and the approval and implementation of these policies and plans will contribute greatly to reducing the burden of malnutrition in Nigeria.
Recall the National Council on Nutrition, at a virtual meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on 12th January, 2021 approved the National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition (NMPFAN) 2021-2025.
A very important achievement!
My congratulations to all those who have worked so tirelessly to achieve this feat.
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You are welcome!