Legislators from across 13 states of the federation, have come together to fashion out a strategy and proffer solutions to malnutrition challenges across their various states.
The lawmakers who were gathered for the 2024 Legislative Retreat, a two-day summit, held in Lagos, focused on tackling malnutrition and boosting human capital development. They unanimously arrived at a consensus that the need for adequate nutrition among the populace should always take the center stage of governance.
The theme of the summit was tagged: “Prioritizing Nutrition – A Pathway to Human Capital Development,”. According to lawmakers, the engagement was aimed to strengthen nutrition policies and implementation across participating states.
In a communique issued at the end of the Two-Day Legislative Engagement on Improved Nutrition organised by Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria, CS-SUNN, participants at the summit highlighted the crucial role of proper nutrition in a healthy population, stressing its impact on education, productivity, and economic growth.
The communiqué signed by 14 participants showed that discussions at the retreat centered on the link between malnutrition and health problems, reduced productivity, and hindered cognitive development.
While speaking during the retreat, the executive secretary, CS-SUNN, Mr. Sunday Okoronkwo, stated that the reasons for the two-day legislative retreat were to gather policymakers under one roof, generate ideas for addressing malnutrition nationwide, and get legislators to commit to improving the nutrition conditions in their respective states.
He proposed six months maternity leave to enable women practise exclusive breastfeeding. According to him, the proposed “six-month maternity leave would pay; we believe, if implemented as a policy in states.
“The maternity leave would also allow women to exclusively breastfeed their babies, which is the best form of antidote for nutrition practices that can actually prevent malnutrition for children. So it’s very important that they both pass the law as a policy at the executive level.”
The well-attended event also had discussions addressing the importance of adequate funding for nutrition programmes in Nigeria.
