By Ochiaka Ugwu
Stakeholders had called for building of capacity of Ministries, Departments and Agencies staff to enable them develop sector-specific nutrition plans aligned with national priorities.
In a communique released at the end of the 2025 National Nutrition Week in Abuja recently themed: “Sustainable Nutrition for a Healthier and Productive Nigeria” it stressed the need to strengthen institutional capacity, build capacity of MDAs to develop sectoral plans of action, which will later be harmonized into a cohesive multisectoral plan of action.
It also noted the need for all MDAs to strengthen their data collection systems, while mandating Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning to coordinate and compile data across sectors for reporting and dissemination.
The communiqué noted the MDAs should have clearly defined roles in the new policy to avoid overlap and duplication of efforts with coordination role of Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning strengthened.
Nutrition stakeholders also advocated the broadening of stakeholders’ engagement by actively engaging youth, women, religious and traditional leaders during policy development to improve ownership, cultural relevance, and community-level acceptance.
Continuing, they stated that youth, women, traditional and religious leaders should be involved in policy drafting and implementation.
They called for sustainable financing noting that government should make clear provisions for both short-term and long-term funding of nutrition interventions to guarantee continuity and effectiveness.
The noted the importance of providing tax reliefs and incentives to local producers of healthy and nutrient-rich foods to encourage production, affordability, and accessibility.
The improvement of use of data and evidence were also agreed upon with the stakeholders making case for the strengthening the use of data for advocacy, lobbying, planning, and decision-making.
It called for presentation of data in formats that effectively communicate key messages and convince policymakers and stakeholders.
The communique noted the need for prioritization of high-impact interventions to ensure that public funds were directed toward interventions with direct impact at the household level, especially those targeting vulnerable populations.
They maintained that use of population growth and demographic trends as criteria for prioritizing intervention areas and allocating resources.
Recall the 2025 National Nutrition Dialogue convened by the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning in collaboration with nutrition stakeholders commenced on Monday 24th November 2025.
The National Nutrition Week was attended by 196 participants comprising representatives from the Office of the Vice President, relevant MDAs, Nigeria Governors’ Forum, Media Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, Faith Based Organizations, Academia, Communities and Development Partners.
