By Joyce Ekeh
Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria, CS-SUNN, has warned that about 40 per cent of Nigerian children under five are stunted, urging Lagos Island Local Government to make nutrition a priority in its 2027 budget across relevant departments.
Senior Programme Manager, CS-SUNN, Kunle Ishola, gave the warning during an advocacy visit by the organisation to Lagos Island Local Government, where he called for a functional Local Government Committee on Food and Nutrition, LGCFN, regular quarterly meetings and dedicated nutrition budget lines across departments.
Ishola said stunting was not merely a physical condition but could permanently affect a child’s cognitive development.
According to him, “Stunting is when a child is too short for his or her age. Beyond the shortness, there is something very serious to us. When a child is stunted, it affects their brain at that age. It is called cognitive development. It is a serious matter.”
He added that the most disturbing aspect was that stunting was irreversible once it occurred, stressing that prevention through proper nutrition during the critical early years was therefore essential.
“The national figure for stunted children under five is 40 per cent. That means that if there are 100 children in Nigeria, 40 of them will be stunted,” Ishola said.
“It is painful that a lot of things that we can prevent would be managed for life. Children are leaders of tomorrow. If we have 40 out of 100 children who are stunted today, that means we are raising 40 stunted leaders of tomorrow.”
Ishola said CS-SUNN had been advocating for improved nutrition policies, budget tracking and stronger interventions for women and children, noting that its advocacy contributed to the development and enactment of Lagos State’s policy on food and nutrition.
He said the organisation had also supported the development of a Costed Plan of Action for Nutrition in the state, adding that the establishment and strengthening of nutrition structures at the local government level was the next critical step.
Explaining the structure, Ishola said the National Council on Nutrition, domiciled in the Office of the Vice President, was the highest governing body, followed by the National Committee on Food and Nutrition and the State Committee on Food and Nutrition.
He said the Local Government Committee on Food and Nutrition was therefore critical because local governments were closest to the people.
“LGCFN is the highest governing body for nutrition intervention at the local government level,” he said, stressing that all decisions on nutrition interventions at the grassroots should be coordinated through the committee.
Ishola called for quarterly meetings involving relevant departments including agriculture, health, education, information, environment, budget, women affairs and poverty alleviation, among others.
He said the multi-sectoral approach was necessary because nutrition went beyond food production and medical care.
“We can have a lot of food in the house, but if we don’t eat it in the right proportion, the body might not have the right nutrients that the body needs. That’s why food security is different from nutrition security,” he explained.
Ishola urged the council to establish dedicated budget lines for nutrition in the various departments, saying adequate financing was central to sustaining interventions.
“There should be a line for nutrition in agriculture. We already have in education and they can do more. Information can do jingles and role plays; they can do a lot of things on radio to enlighten the masses,” he said.
He also called for stronger promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, particularly within the first six months of a child’s life.
According to him, colostrum, the first yellowish milk produced after childbirth, should not be discarded because it provides important protection to newborns.
“The first thing when a child is being born in a health facility is that you put the baby to breast,” Ishola said.
He urged the council to ensure that mothers, including those delivering outside health facilities, receive adequate information on breastfeeding and appropriate child feeding.
Responding, the Head of Education, Lagos Island Local Government, Dr Shakirudeen Idowu Lawal, said the council had already introduced school feeding as an incentive to improve school enrolment and promote better nutrition among pupils.
He said pupils were served fruits before their regular meals on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
“We now thought of what we can do so that we can encourage them to come to school. That was why we introduced feeding,” Lawal said.
He pledged to work with the relevant departments to strengthen nutrition education in schools and primary healthcare centres.
“We’ll be going to the PHCs too. When they are having their antenatal or prenatal programmes, we’ll be going there to lecture them, so that they can know the essence of feeding their children very well. So at the end of the day, this issue of stunted growth will be eradicated,” he said.
The Head of Budget, Mrs Aderonke Fagbemi, expressed the council’s readiness to support the initiative, saying the evidence of the benefits of exclusive breastfeeding was compelling.
“I have three children, by the grace of God. I have two girls and a boy… I must say, there’s a difference. There is a difference. Is it mentally, the strength, there is a difference,” she said, while recounting her experience with breastfeeding her children.
Fagbemi pledged to work with CS-SUNN and other departments to identify ways of collecting data on children affected by malnutrition and strengthening budgetary support.
The Nutrition Focal Person, Mrs Cecilia Rhodes, said the local government health sector was already implementing a number of nutrition interventions, including early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding counselling.
She said mothers were encouraged to initiate breastfeeding within 30 minutes to one hour after delivery, while children aged zero to 59 months were screened for malnutrition during child welfare clinics.
“We know the medical implication of a stunted child,” Rhodes said, adding that the council also conducted food demonstration sessions and relied on community volunteers to identify and track malnourished women and children.
The Head of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, WAPA, Mrs Folashade Agoi, said the programme would provide an opportunity to reach more women with nutrition information, particularly through existing programmes targeted at mothers and children.
The Head of Agriculture, Mr Hassan Saka, disclosed that the Executive Chairman of the local government was personally committed to nutrition and chaired the Local Government Committee on Food and Nutrition.
According to him, the chairman had also been implementing periodic food distribution programmes for vulnerable residents.
Saka said the CS-SUNN intervention would help the council strengthen and expand existing efforts.
Meanwhile, a representative of the CS-SUNN Steering Committee, Mr Sodangi Adams Chido, urged Lagos Island Local Government to take advantage of its resources and private-sector presence to mobilise funding for nutrition.
He said a functional committee with a costed work plan would make it easier for development partners, philanthropists and private organisations to support nutrition programmes.
Chido said some local governments in Bauchi State had already begun contributing funds towards nutrition interventions, citing the contribution of N5 million each by the state’s 20 local governments towards the procurement of ready-to-use therapeutic foods.
He urged Lagos Island to provide leadership that other local governments could emulate.
“We like to see leadership actually coming from Lagos,” Chido said, urging the council to develop a workable structure, costed work plan and budget for nutrition.
The CS-SUNN team also visited the Lagos Island Council Development Area office, where it met officials, including the Chief of Staff to the chairman, heads of Agriculture and WAPA and a representative of the Ministry of Information.
