World Bank supports Nigeria with $50m to address food nutrition challenges

The World Bank says it has approved $50 million to support Nigeria’s food nutrition challenges.

Ndiame Diop, country director of the World Bank, spoke during a meeting with Vice-President Kashim Shettima at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.

Diop said the fund was earmarked under the accelerating nutrition results in Nigeria (ANRiN) project 2.0 programme which is a crisis response window.

Speaking also at the meeting, Trina Haque, practice manager for health, nutrition and population at the World Bank, said there was a need for nutrition education for children and adolescents as it is important for early child development.

Responding, Shettima reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to addressing its growing nutrition challenges through a community-driven strategy aimed at transforming nutrition outcomes across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas (LGAs).

He presented the comprehensive N-774 initiative, which builds on successful outcomes from ANRiN project.

Shettima added that the N-774 initiative comes at a crucial time considering the ANRiN project closeout.

“The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is pioneering a paradigm shift in nutrition programmes through locally owned solutions,” he said.

“The N-774 Initiative represents our commitment to community-driven development and sustainable nutrition outcomes.”

Shettima said the N-774 initiative is a localised, community-driven solution tailored towards the unique needs of each LGA and aims to bring nutrition interventions directly to communities while encouraging local ownership and ensuring sustainability.

“Malnutrition is a Nigerian problem that needs a Nigerian solution and president Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very much willing to support such an initiative,” Shettima added.

“The project integrates nutrition goals across education, agriculture, health and social protection sectors.”

On project implementation strategy, he said it was important to leverage current political will to reverse the country’s negative nutrition indicators.

“The renewed hope administration is committed to swift, impactful results through this innovative approach to nutrition intervention,” he said.

“With sustained collaboration between the federal and sub-national governments and international partners, we are confident this initiative will yield significant improvements in our community health outcomes.”

On September 30, the World Bank approved three new financing totalling $1.57 billion to support key sectors in Nigeria.

The approved funds, according to the international lender, were geared towards supporting the federal government in strengthening human capital through better health for women, children and adolescents.