Hunger, Malnutrition Threatening Nigeria’s Human Capital Devt, Says Group

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has raised an alarm on the looming consequences of the current food crisis and economic hardship in the country.

It expressed concern that if the situation is not promptly addressed, it could lead to worsening hunger and malnutrition with the attendant negative impact the country’s human capital development.

CS-SUNN Executive Secretary, Mr. Sunday Okoronkwo raised the concern during a media roundtable on: “Investing in Nutrition for Human Capital Development in Nigeria”  in Abuja

He said that nutrition plays a vital role in Human Capital Development (HCD), serving as the cornerstone for the physical and mental well-being of individuals.

He explained that deficiencies in essential nutrients result in malnutrition and adversely impacting both the health and productivity of individuals.

“It is therefore important to recognise that malnutrition not only undermines an individual’s health but also exerts a profound toll on economic prosperity, hindering the nation’s progress towards achieving its human capital development goals,” he said.

According to Okoronkwo, Nigeria’s human capital development vision is for “healthy, educated and productive Nigerians by the Year 2030”, with targets across three thematic areas.

He said the recent establishment of a multi-sectoral committee to spearhead the federal government’s human capital development programme signifies a significant step in enhancing Nigeria’s human capital index with a renewed focus on health and nutrition, labour force participation, and education, coupled with a comprehensive framework for monitoring and evaluation.

“However, amidst these commendable efforts, there is a pressing concern: the persistent challenge of malnutrition. Despite ongoing initiatives, Nigeria continues to grapple with alarming rates of malnutrition, posing a barrier to unlocking the nation’s human capital potential.

“The 2020 Human Capital Index (HCI) of Nigeria according to the assessment by World Bank is currently 0.36; ranking 2 out of 157 countries, reflecting the urgent need for concerted action to address this. In addition, budgetary allocations for nutrition remain insufficient, and release rates are dismally low,” he said.

CS-SUNN underscored the key role of nutrition in driving human capital development, adding that malnutrition not only undermines investments in health and education but also perpetuates a cycle of poverty and underdevelopment.

By advocating a strong nutrition governance, enhanced data availability, and increased domestic financing, CS- SUNN said it seeks to catalyse transformative change and propel Nigeria towards its HCD objectives.

While speaking in an interview with THISDAY,CS-SUNN, Communications Officer, Lillian Okafor said there was need for innovative financing mechanisms to bridge the gap, emphasising the need for increased domestic funding and strategic resource mobilisation.

She said: “For us in Nigeria the burden of malnutrition has continued to impede our efforts to attain high level human capital development target.

“And we have seen that part of the key challenges is poor investment in nutrition. So the essence of this roundtable is to trigger the media to begin to speak up and advocate and call upon our policy makers to ensure that more investments are channelled towards providing better nutrition outcomes for the greater segment of our population.”

She said that this will not only improve the health of the citizens, but also the productivity of the country’s workforce.

Okafor specifically called for more investments in the area of maternal and child healthcare, community management of acute malnutrition, nutrition sensitive and nutrition specific interventions, such upgrading skills of nutritionists and ensuring their availability in the hospitals and primary healthcare facilities.

According to her, there is need for funding of sensitisation programmes to educate rural women on the importance of good nutrition practices.

She said that most often even when funds were budgeted, actual releases were not made and as such utilisation is poor and does not address issues intended to addressed.

“We are this opportunity to call on the government of Nigeria to invest in multiple micro nutrient supplements because it is very key to addressing the issue anaemia in women of child-bearing age,” she said.

Okafor disclosed that UNICEF has agreed to provide counter-funding for the procurement of micro nutrient supplements to address the problem of anaemia in Nigeria.