On October 30, 2024, the Federal Government gave hint of its intention to initiate “Nutrition 774” which, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Vitalis Obi, disclosed would be a multi-sectoral action plan to drive down malnutrition among Nigerians.

On February 20, 2025, the National Economic Council, NEC, with Vice President Kashim Shettima as Chairman, kicked off the initiative during the Council’s 148th meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Apart from the VP, the NEC also has the 36 State Governors and key Federal Government officials as its members.

About 40 per cent of Nigerian children are stunted, eight per cent suffer from body wasting, while 27 per cent are underweight. The programme is aimed at ensuring that citizens, especially vulnerable children and women, have access to the nutrition they need.

According to VP Shettima: “This initiative is, therefore, an invitation to all stakeholders: our governors, ministers, local government chairmen, development partners, and the private sector to take action. It is also a pledge to the people of Nigeria that we will not stand by while our children suffer the preventable consequences of malnutrition”.

Malnutrition hinders physical growth and development, leading to stunted growth and underweight issues in children. It compromises the immune system and increases susceptibility to infectious diseases. It also affects cognitive development and poor academic performance, thus predisposing a population to poor quality manpower and leadership.

Malnutrition can also lead to long-term health challenges, such as diabetes, heart conditions and others. These combined effects impair individual potentials and also hinder socio-economic development of nations. They also perpetuate cycles of poverty, disease and low life expectancy.

It is encouraging that the Bola Tinubu administration has decided to rally all levels of government to tackle not just food insecurity through many of its initiatives but particularly targeting malnutrition. The recent visit of federal lawmakers to the VP and his call on them to make laws to support the programme’s actualisation, indicates willingness to end food insecurity and malnutrition in Nigeria.

The taste of the pudding, they say, is in the eating. We want to see concrete action after these flurries of government public ceremonies. We must seize the opportunity provided by the ongoing planting season to mobilise and focus all organs of our government and society to embrace the Nutrition 774 programme.

Nigerian government officials are very famous for excellent documents, flowery public rhetoric and glamorous displays, but when it comes to putting action where their mouths are, they fail, while funds budgeted for critical programmes are largely stolen. This is why we remain a backward country. We do not want to see this in “Nutrition 774”.

The Tinubu administration is obligated to lead Nigerians out of hunger and food insecurity which its harsh economic policies exacerbated.