Twelve million Nigeria children are stunted as a result of malnutrition, the programme officer of the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, Muhammed Murtala, has said.
He spoke yesterday in Bauchi during an executive-legislative-CSOs-media roundtable conference organised by the centre, supported by the United Nations Children Fund.
He said 50 percent of the stunted children were from nine northern states with Kano having the highest number which he put at 1.4 million.
According to him, the other states: are Katsina, 0.9 million; Bauchi, 0.8 million; Kaduna, 0.7 million; Jigawa, 0.7 million; as well as Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara and Borno, 0.5 million each.
“Stunting is what happens to a child’s brain and anybody when they don’t get the right kind of food or nutrients in their first 1, 000 days of life”, he explained.
Murtala said an estimated $520 million was required annually to deliver basic nutrition service in Nigeria.
