PROTEIN CHALLENGE: NO NIGERIAN SHOULD GO HUNGRY
By Oki Samson, Trek Africa Newspaper
* Oyebola, Nweke, Akanno wants government to fulfil SDG Goal 2
* As Protein Challenge Nigeria takes center stage at webinar
Set against the backdrop of the Sustainable Development Goals 2 which states zero hunger, a webinar took place in Lagos yesterday with the theme ‘the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition – connecting the dots for Nigeria #ProteinChallenge’.
Speaking during her presentation, Social Development Expert, Foyinsola Oyebola stated that Nigeria’s Vision as it relates to the global goals is to ‘Leave no Nigerian Behind’ which implies integrating the SDGs in an inclusive and people-oriented manner while focusing on institutional and policy strengthening. She added that the policy framework ‘is expected to be achieved in three phases viz. 2015-2020, 2021-2026, and 2026-2030 under six thematic areas namely policies, data management, institutions, partnerships, communications, and finance.’
On his part, Remmy Nweke noted that Nigeria’s healthcare budget has suffered a decline in the past 3 years – in 2018, it was N71.11bn, N50.15bn in 2019, and N46bn in 2020. The progress report on 10 nutrition targets shows that Nigeria is achieving no progress or worsening in adult male diabetes, adult female diabetes, adult male obesity, adult female obesity, and women of reproductive age anemia. The country is, however, showing some progress in under-5 stunting, under-5 wasting perhaps due to the school feeding program, and in exclusive breastfeeding. Data on Under-5 overweight is on course while low birth weight has no data.
The National Coordinator of Media Center against Child Malnutrition, Mr. Nweke advised that ‘government must improve access to farmlands, increase health budget with emphasis on nutrition budget line, review of the school feeding program, encourage nutrition-related dieting, partner non-state actors among others’.
He then applauded the Protein Challenge Nigeria and its supporters stating ‘proteins are essential nutrients for the human body.’
The well-attended webinar moderated by a development enthusiast, Martha Okpeke also had the Founder of Diet234, Collins Akanno speaking on the importance of ensuring that the awareness of proper and adequate nutrition percolate down to communities across the country.
It should be noted that the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition is a commitment by member states of the global organization to eliminate malnutrition in all its forms between 2016 and 2025.
