The Oyo State Government, in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has called for firm, multisectoral commitments to high-impact nutrition interventions for children across the South-West region.
The call was made at a one-day meeting on Integrated Multisectoral Nutrition Programming held on Tuesday in Ibadan.
The meeting, which drew key policymakers from the six South-West states, sought to secure concrete political commitments to accelerate coordinated nutrition actions aimed at improving child wellbeing and protecting child rights across the region.
In his remarks, the Oyo State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Mr Seun Asamu, said malnutrition is not merely a health issue but one that cuts across budgeting, agriculture, education, and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
Asamu noted that, in response to children’s nutritional needs, the state government had constituted State Committee on Food and Nutrition (SCFN).
The commissioner was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr Julius Ayanleke.
Asamu also commended the impact of the Nutrition for 774 Local Government Areas (N-774) initiative, launched in 2025 by the Federal Government.
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The commissione said the N-774 is a grassroots, multisectoral programme aimed at combating the country’s malnutrition crisis across all local government areas.
According to him, the initiative has strengthened the recognition of nutrition as a national priority within the country’s development agenda.
Mr Muhammad Okorie, UNICEF Programme Manager, Lagos Field Office, said nutrition remains a critical child rights issue that must be addressed.
Okorie added that failure to take nutrition seriously could deprive a child of vital intellectual capabilities, with consequences that are often irreversible.
“To get it right with nutrition, we must focus on the first 1,000 days of life, beginning with exclusive breastfeeding and the timely introduction of appropriate complementary feeding,” he said.
He cited stunting as a key outcome of malnutrition and emphasised the need for coordinated institutional frameworks at the federal, state, and local government levels to tackle the challenge.
Okorie added that UNICEF’s Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) is transforming how governments at all levels address malnutrition among children and women.
Also speaking, Sr Folasade Adeyemi, Chairman of the Association of Local Government Chairmen (ALGON) in Ogun, expressed the readiness of the association to partner with UNICEF and the Federal Government to ensure the success of the CNF and N-774 initiatives.
The meeting brought together Permanent Secretaries and Executive Secretaries of State Primary Health Care Management Boards from Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo states.
(NAN)
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