Nigeria to Adopt Ethiopia’s Nutrition Strategy to Tackle Malnutrition

Nigeria has pledged to strengthen its fight against malnutrition by adopting lessons from Ethiopia’s approach to nutrition financing, intergovernmental coordination and community-based interventions.

Vice President Kashim Shettima disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja after returning from a three-day Nigeria-Ethiopia Nutrition Leadership Exchange Forum held in Addis Ababa and Oromia.

Shettima, who led a high-level Nigerian delegation to the forum, said the lessons from the engagement would be incorporated into the Nutrition 774 (N774) Initiative, which aims to improve nutrition outcomes across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.

The move comes amid persistent malnutrition challenges in Nigeria, particularly among children and women, with insecurity, poverty, food shortages and limited access to essential healthcare worsening the situation in vulnerable communities.

According to the Vice President, the exchange provided an opportunity for Nigeria to study practical approaches to tackling malnutrition and strengthening food systems while identifying strategies that could be adapted to the country’s political, economic and social conditions.

He emphasised the need for stronger collaboration among the federal, state and local governments to ensure nutrition interventions reach households and communities most in need.

“The knowledge gained from the three-day Nutrition forum would be adapted to Nigeria’s realities, particularly in strengthening collaboration among the federal government, states and local governments, in order to improve nutrition outcomes at the community and household levels,” Shettima said.

He also highlighted the importance of sustainable nutrition financing, accountability and effective implementation at the subnational level, noting that improved nutrition was essential for human capital development, productivity and economic growth.

“The real measure of the exchange would be how effectively the lessons are translated into improved outcomes for Nigerian families, particularly women and children, through stronger implementation of N774 across the country,” he added.

The Nigerian delegation included state governors, commissioners and officials from federal ministries, departments and agencies responsible for health, education, agriculture, water resources, sanitation, budget planning and emergency management.

Representatives of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and other stakeholders also participated in the engagement, organised in partnership with Big Win Philanthropy.

The forum examined Ethiopia’s experience in coordinating nutrition programmes across government institutions, securing predictable funding and using data to track progress and hold implementing agencies accountable.

Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, said the exchange had strengthened his belief that Nigeria could improve its nutrition outcomes by learning from countries that had faced similar challenges.

Lawal noted that insecurity had disrupted food production and access to food in Zamfara, despite the state’s agricultural potential.

“Zamfara State is a state that is facing too many challenges, especially insecurity. In the past, when you spoke about malnutrition, we didn’t even have anything like that in the state because we produce enough to feed our people. However, because of those challenges, it becomes difficult,” he said.

He said the experience had encouraged a reassessment of how states could address the impact of insecurity on food security and nutrition.

“Now, should we be defined by the insecurity? The answer is no. What else can we do? And it is important that we are here in this kind of gathering to understand where people that face similar challenges, what have they done to come out of it?” Lawal added.

The governor said Nigeria’s N774 Initiative already reflected some of the principles observed in Ethiopia, but the exchange offered practical lessons for improving implementation and achieving measurable results.

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, said his administration would extend the initiative across the state’s 17 local government areas, 184 wards and communities.

Otti described nutrition as closely linked to poverty, explaining that while broader economic policies were designed to create jobs, increase economic output and improve living standards, targeted support remained necessary for vulnerable households that might not immediately benefit from economic growth.

“It’s also closely connected to poverty. While we are at the upper level dealing with fundamentals in the economy that will move people out of poverty, reduce unemployment, increase the GDP of the state, there are those people who may not be able to react to the fundamentals of the economy, and those are the people we are targeting,” he said.

Jigawa State Governor, Umar Namadi, said his administration would draw on Ethiopia’s experience while building on existing state programmes.

He cited the Masaka initiative and a programme through which about 600 women had been trained to produce Tom Brown, a locally prepared, nutrient-rich food commonly used in feeding children.

“In addition to the Masaka initiative, we also have a ‘Tom Brown’ initiative, where we also trained about 600 women, and we have given them all the material that is needed to produce nutritional food that will be used by our children,” Namadi said.

Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, also said his administration already had nutrition programmes targeting children and pregnant women but was seeking ways to improve them through knowledge-sharing with Ethiopia.

“Already, Osun State, we already have an agenda on nutrition, especially for the young ones and pregnant women. Very, very important. And we have some sources, but we can improve on them. So that is why I’m here, I’m here to exchange notes from our counterparts in Ethiopia,” Adeleke said.

At the federal level, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, announced plans to work with at least two states with the highest malnutrition burden to begin implementing the initiative locally.

The proposed collaboration is expected to provide an initial platform for translating the forum’s recommendations into practical interventions at state and community levels.

Ethiopia’s Minister of Health, Dr Mekdes Daba, commended Nigeria’s decision to extend the N774 Initiative across all local government areas, describing the commitment as a demonstration of political will.

The exchange ended with both countries reaffirming their commitment to continued cooperation and knowledge-sharing on nutrition and development.

For Nigeria, the next challenge will be translating the commitments into sustained funding, stronger coordination among government agencies, effective community-level delivery and measurable improvements in the nutritional health of children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.