Mohammed Shosanta
Dr. Micheal Ojo, Country Director of Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN),says over 90% of Nigerians cannot afford healthy diet which results in malnutrition and sometimes loss of lives.
Ojo, who disclosed this during his courtesy visit to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen. Abubakar Kyari, in his office in Abuja, also said food and nutrition was a significant challenge for every Nigerian as over 90% of the population can’t afford healthy diet.
He noted that one of the aims of the organisation was to work and deliver healthy diet to over 25% of the population around the world, of which Nigeria was included, adding that the organisation intended to collaborate with the Ministry in the area of food value chain such as maize, rice, cassava, among others.
According to him, GAIN had enjoyed a good relationship with the Ministry over the years and hoped for its sustainability to transform the country’s food system.
Speaking,Kyari expressed the Ministry’s readiness to partner Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition to tackle food and nutrition security, post-harvest losses, among others.
He added that food security was one priority of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda which focuses on agriculture and food security as well as good nutrition.
He said: “We were given the mandate to ensure that the country is food secure and we are ready to collaborate with partners to ensure its actualisation and sustainability.”
The Minister emphasised that the current state of food security was threatened by issues of availability and affordability, adding that malnutrition and rate of food inflation required that “we work all year round to ensure increased food production while putting in place, measures to make food available, accessible, affordable and of the right nutrition on a sustainable basis.”
He urged the organisation to participate in the forth coming Agricultural Summit and requested for their document to be included in the Ministry’s document, pointing out that “it should be a workable and sustainable document for the benefit of the populace”.
