By Michael Agbaji
The speaker of house of representative Rt Hon Tajudeen Abbas has re-emphasized the Position of the house of representative to improved food and Nutrition in Nigeria.
Hon. Abbas stated this while ingratiating the committee on food and Nutrition at the National Assembly in Abuja.
Speaker who was represented by the house leader Hon.Julius Ihonvbere
According to him, Food Security and Nutrition is important committee to the house very crucial to the vision of the House to “be responsive, results-oriented and effective in performing its constitutional mandate towards the security and welfare of Nigerians’.
He said, Nigeria like the rest of the world, is experiencing a food crisis, exacerbated by climate change, rising inflation and pervasive insecurity. Hence, the decision of the House to set up a Committee that would be dedicated to fashioning legislative and measures, actions to tackle the menace of food insecurity and
malnutrition affecting our people.
According to him, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said about 26.5 million Nigerians would be grappling with high levels of food insecurity in 2024 while the country is said to have the second highest burden of malnutrition in the world, with 32% of children under the age of
five stunted or chronically malnourished. Malnutrition currently impacts 35 million children under the age of five, among whom 12 million are stunted, 3 million are wasted, and 23.5 million suffer from anemia.
He further says additional 17.7 million individuals are facing hunger, with 2.6 million children confronting severe acute malnutrition in 2024 among women of childbearing age, 7%
experience severe acute malnutrition. These figures may exacerbate due to the current food inflation rate, which stands at about 33.7% (according to the Central Bank of Nigeria).
He Further said the World Food Programme’s in September 2023 publication of the ‘Nigeria Hunger Map’ estimates that 24.9 million Nigerians are in an acute or critical stage of hunger, categorized as an emergency, while 85.8 million Nigerians have insufficient food consumption.
The chairman of House Committee on food and Nutrition security,Hon Chike Okafor days the inauguration of this Committee by the Speaker is timely in the time Nigeria and rest of the world are experiencing food crisis and food security.
He thanks the Speaker for give them opportunity to serve that he and his committee will not disappoint the house.
Various stakeholders including the Minister of National Planning Mr Atiku Bagudu and others grace the event.
