FG okays 5-year plan to reduce hunger, malnutrition

The National Council on Nutrition has approved a 5-year nutrition action plan that will guide the implementation of interventions and programmes to address the problems of hunger and malnutrition in the country.

The council chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo approved the action plan titled the “National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition (NMPFAN) 2021-2025” yesterday at its virtual meeting.

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The Plan

The plan will reduce the proportion of people who suffer malnutrition by 50% and increase exclusive breastfeeding rate to 65%.

It will also reduce stunting rate among under-five year olds to 18% by 2025 through the scaling up of priority high impact nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions.

The plan recommends the adoption and implementation of strategies aimed at improving the nutritional status of Nigerians by tackling under nutrition and stunting, among others.

The vice president welcomed suggestions for the adoption of extensive nutrition advocacy programmes to be driven by stakeholders across all levels of government and the private sector.

The NGF Chairman and Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, said his colleagues have endorsed the plan.  He added that taking the advocacy campaign to the state governors will be a crucial part of ending malnutrition in the country.

Meanwhile, the vice president yesterday presided over the meeting of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) where the council adopted the National Action Plan 6.0 for the retention of results delivered so far in the Ease of Doing Business reforms in Nigeria.

A presidential spokesman, Laolu Akande, said the plan also aims at attaining the top 70 in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking by 2023.

He said some of the new reform initiatives in NAP 6.0 will include further reduction in the cost of business registration by simplifying the process and eliminating the need for agents.