Governors Move To Declare National Nutrition Emergency, Establish Intervention Fund

Governors of Nigeria’s 36 states have resolved to declare nutrition a national emergency and establish a National Nutrition Intervention Fund as part of efforts to tackle hunger and malnutrition across the country’s 774 local government areas.

The governors also pledged to adopt a unified national nutrition budgeting framework, strengthen domestic funding and introduce grassroots accountability measures to ensure that government investments translate into measurable improvements in the nutritional status of Nigerians.

The resolutions were announced on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal, who presented the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Addis Ababa Commitment on Nutrition at the Nigeria Country Session of the Nigeria-Ethiopia Nutrition Leadership Exchange.

The commitments followed a three-day exchange programme attended by a high-level Nigerian delegation led by Vice President Kashim Shettima. During the visit, the delegation studied Ethiopia’s strategies for tackling malnutrition, particularly its Seqota Declaration.

According to a statement issued on Saturday by Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications in the Office of the Vice President, the governors agreed to introduce funding and institutional mechanisms to accelerate the implementation of Nigeria’s Nutrition 774 Initiative.

Speaking at the session, themed “From Lessons to Commitment: Accelerating Implementation of the Nutrition 774 Initiative,” Lawal said sustained political leadership, effective coordination among government institutions, predictable funding and data-driven accountability were essential to achieving meaningful progress.

He explained that the proposed National Nutrition Intervention Fund would encourage greater investment by state governments, reward effective programme implementation and support measurable improvements in nutrition outcomes.

The governors also resolved to institutionalise the principle of “One Goal, One Plan and One Budget” to address fragmented interventions and ensure that federal, state and local governments pursue shared objectives through a coordinated financing and implementation framework.

Lawal said the leadership exchange had highlighted the importance of translating political commitments into practical action through community-driven planning and sustained financial investment.

“We are encouraged that Nigeria’s N774 Initiative already embodies many of the principles we have seen here in Ethiopia,” he said.

He identified unified planning and budgeting, stronger multisectoral coordination, bottom-up planning, predictable funding and performance measurement as key lessons Nigeria intends to adopt.

The Zamfara governor added that matching funding arrangements between the Federal Government and state governments would provide additional incentives for subnational governments to increase nutrition investments while strengthening their accountability for results.

Lawal recalled that the three tiers of government signed a National Nutrition Compact on February 20, 2025, in the presence of Vice President Shettima, establishing a common framework for addressing malnutrition.

According to him, the compact was signed by the NGF chairman on behalf of the 36 states, the president of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) on behalf of the 774 local governments, and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, representing the Federal Government.

He said the Addis Ababa commitments would reinforce the existing agreement by incorporating practical lessons from Ethiopia’s experience and translating them into specific actions across the three tiers of government.

Under the new commitments, the governors pledged to ensure that communities and wards identify their nutrition priorities before these are incorporated into local, state and national development plans.

They also agreed to expand the National Nutrition Scorecard beyond the state level to include local government and ward-level performance indicators, enabling authorities to monitor the effectiveness of nutrition interventions at the grassroots.

The governors further committed to regular surveys, assessments and other data-gathering mechanisms to guide resource allocation, monitor implementation and identify areas requiring corrective action.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has announced plans to begin targeted nutrition interventions in 2 states with high levels of childhood stunting before gradually extending the programme to other parts of the country.

The Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Muyi Aina, disclosed this while presenting the commitments of federal agencies participating in the exchange programme.

Aina said the government would adopt a focused implementation strategy by selecting 2 states based on their stunting burden, setting clear objectives and coordinating interventions to address the underlying causes of malnutrition.

He explained that relevant federal ministries and agencies would work with the affected governors and their teams to identify priority interventions, assign responsibilities and determine implementation costs.

According to him, the participating governments would pursue joint funding arrangements while involving communities and development partners in designing and implementing the programmes.

Aina said the delegation had drawn important lessons from Ethiopia’s agricultural transformation, early childhood development programmes and data-driven interventions, particularly the need for disciplined execution and rigorous performance monitoring.

“We will track progress in the execution of the plan very rigorously,” he said.

He proposed reviews at 3-month, 6-month and 9-month intervals involving Vice President Shettima, who chairs the National Council on Nutrition.

Aina said the reviews would allow the government to assess progress, address implementation challenges and determine when successful interventions could be extended to other states.

He added that concentrating initial efforts on 2 states with high stunting rates would help the government generate practical evidence, improve implementation strategies and direct resources towards interventions that deliver measurable results.

Also speaking, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, said Nigeria’s response to malnutrition must go beyond political declarations to include clearly defined programmes backed by measurable performance indicators.

Pate said the leadership exchange had reinforced the importance of focused sectoral interventions, clear implementation roadmaps, performance matrices and institutional accountability.

He assured that the Federal Government would work with state governments to translate the Addis Ababa commitments into practical programmes, with implementation reports submitted to the Vice President through the National Council on Nutrition.

The minister stressed that cooperation among federal and state governments, communities and development partners would be crucial to achieving sustainable improvements in nutrition outcomes.

He expressed confidence that Nigeria could adapt Ethiopia’s experience to its own circumstances, noting that the East African country’s progress demonstrated the benefits of sustained political leadership and effective coordination.

Pate also commended the Ethiopian government for hosting the Nigerian delegation and invited Ethiopian officials to visit Nigeria to study ongoing programmes and explore further areas of collaboration.

In her remarks, Ethiopia’s Minister of Health, Dr Mekdes Daba, praised Nigeria’s commitment to tackling malnutrition, describing the leadership exchange as an important example of African countries learning from one another to address shared development challenges.

Daba commended Vice President Shettima for leading the high-level delegation, saying the visit reflected Nigeria’s determination to move from policy commitments to practical action.

She described the Nutrition 774 Initiative as a significant national undertaking and urged Nigerian authorities to prioritise targeted interventions, continuous monitoring and the gradual expansion of programmes that demonstrate measurable success.

The Ethiopian minister stressed that nutrition policies should ultimately be judged by tangible improvements in people’s lives rather than the number of commitments made by governments.

She assured the Nigerian delegation that Ethiopia was ready to provide technical assistance and share its implementation experience as Nigeria advances its nutrition agenda.

Daba expressed optimism that the exchange would mark the beginning of a sustained partnership between both countries, demonstrating how African governments could draw on local solutions and shared experiences to tackle malnutrition and improve public health outcomes.