Nigeria has pledged to strengthen its fight against malnutrition by adapting Ethiopia’s approach to nutrition financing, intergovernmental coordination and community-level interventions, following a three-day leadership exchange in Addis Ababa.
Speaking on Thursday in Abuja upon his return from Addis Ababa and Oromia, Vice President Kashim Shettima, who led a high-powered Nigerian delegation to the Ethiopia-Nigeria Nutrition Leadership Exchange Forum, said the lessons from the engagement would be applied to the Nutrition 774 (N774) Initiative, which seeks to improve nutrition outcomes across the country’s 774 local government areas.
The commitment comes amid persistent malnutrition challenges in Nigeria, particularly among children and women, with insecurity, poverty, food insecurity and inadequate access to essential health services compounding the problem in vulnerable communities.
Shettima said the exchange provided an opportunity for Nigeria to examine practical approaches to tackling malnutrition and strengthening food systems, while identifying strategies that could be adapted to the country’s political, economic and social realities.
He said the priority was to improve coordination among the federal, state and local governments to ensure that nutrition interventions reached households and communities where they were most needed.
“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,” the Vice-President said.
Shettima also stressed the importance of sustainable nutrition financing, accountability and effective implementation at the subnational level, noting that improved nutrition was essential to 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 said.
The Nigerian delegation included state governors and their commissioners, as well as 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, which was organised in partnership with Big Win Philanthropy.
The forum focused on Ethiopia’s experience in coordinating nutrition programmes across government institutions, securing predictable funding and using data to monitor progress and hold implementing agencies accountable.
For Nigeria, the challenge will be to translate these lessons into coordinated action across all 774 local government areas, rather than allowing nutrition policies to remain largely at the level of government commitments.
Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal, said the exchange had reinforced his belief that Nigeria could make progress by learning from countries that had confronted similar challenges.
He noted that insecurity had undermined 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,” Lawal said.
He said the experience had prompted a reassessment of how states could respond to the effects 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?” he added.
Lawal said Nigeria’s N774 Initiative already reflected several principles observed in Ethiopia, but the exchange had offered practical lessons on strengthening implementation and achieving measurable results.
Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, said his administration would extend the initiative to the state’s 17 local government areas, 184 wards and communities.
He described nutrition as closely linked to poverty, explaining that while broader economic policies were intended to create jobs, increase economic output and improve living standards, targeted interventions remained necessary for vulnerable households unable to benefit immediately 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,” Otti said.
Jigawa State Governor, Umar Namadi, said his administration would draw on Ethiopia’s experience while building on existing state-level interventions.
He cited the Masaka initiative and a programme under 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 had an existing nutrition agenda targeting children and pregnant women but was seeking ways to strengthen it 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 for the government to work with at least two states with the highest malnutrition burden to begin local implementation of the initiative.
The proposed collaboration is expected to provide an initial platform for translating the forum’s recommendations into practical interventions at the state and community levels.
Ethiopia’s Minister of Health, Dr Mekdes Daba, commended Nigeria’s decision to extend the N774 Initiative across all its local government areas, describing the commitment as a strong demonstration of political will.
The exchange concluded with both countries reaffirming their commitment to continued cooperation and knowledge-sharing on nutrition and development.
For Nigeria, the test will be whether the commitments made in Addis Ababa lead to sustained funding, better coordination among government agencies, effective grassroots delivery and measurable improvements in the nutritional status of children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups.