Nutrition: A Foundational Pillar for Societal Development
By Fatima Mohammed-Lawal
Ilorin, Dec. 19, 2025 (NAN) – The Kwara State Government has issued a clarion call for a fundamental shift in how nutrition interventions are designed and implemented. Speaking at the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) Sustainability Meeting with key Local Government Area stakeholders in Ilorin on Friday, state officials urged development partners to move beyond isolated programs and embrace a deeply integrated, multi-sectoral framework.
Prof. Nusirat Elelu, Executive Secretary of the Kwara State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, articulated the vision, reiterating the pivotal role of adequate nutrition in the cognitive and physical development of children. She framed nutrition not merely as a health issue, but as a critical investment in human capital and the state’s future economic productivity. “Good nutrition is the bedrock of a healthy, resilient, and productive society,” Elelu stated. “The future trajectory of Kwara State is inextricably linked to the health and nutritional status of its children today.”
The ANRiN sustainability meeting served as a strategic platform to review progress, confront systemic challenges, and map out sustainable pathways for nutrition interventions targeting maternal, infant, and child health across all 16 LGAs. Elelu used the platform to stress that a siloed approach—where the health ministry works in isolation from agriculture, water resources, education, and planning—is a primary reason many well-intentioned programs fail to achieve lasting impact.
Deconstructing the Multi-Sectoral Approach
A truly coordinated approach requires different government departments and partners to align their objectives. For example:
- Agriculture: Promoting bio-fortified crops (like vitamin A-enriched cassava or iron-rich beans) and supporting homestead gardening to diversify household diets.
- Water & Sanitation: Ensuring access to clean water and hygiene to prevent waterborne diseases that cause malnutrition, even when food intake is sufficient.
- Education: Integrating nutrition education into school curricula and using schools as platforms for adolescent health and feeding programs.
- Finance & Planning: Prioritizing and ring-fencing nutrition budgets within broader state development plans.
“We must break down these sectoral walls,” Elelu emphasized. “Only through a coordinated, multi-sectoral approach to nutrition programming can we ensure that no child in Kwara is left behind.”
She highlighted the government’s commitment to strengthening primary healthcare delivery as the vehicle for these interventions at the grassroots level. A key behavioral cornerstone she identified was the promotion of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. “Breast milk is not just food; it is a child’s first vaccine,” she explained. “It provides perfectly tailored nutrition, critical antibodies for immunity, and protection from a host of preventable infections and chronic diseases later in life.”
The Mechanics of Sustainability: Advocacy, Champions, and Resources
Echoing the call for integration, Dr. Michael Oguntoye, Director of Primary Health Care Systems, delved into the mechanics of sustaining such programs. He highlighted the indispensable roles of advocacy, strategic engagement, and meticulous coordination in mobilizing and efficiently utilizing resources.
“Designated Nutrition Champions within government and communities are not just figureheads,” Oguntoye said. “They play a critical, operational role in influencing budgetary allocations, attracting partner support, and, most importantly, ensuring that every naira allocated is efficiently utilized to deliver measurable nutrition outcomes at the grassroots.” These champions act as accountability mechanisms, tracking resource flow and program impact across sectors.
The Irrefutable Science of the First 1000 Days
Providing the scientific backbone for the policy discussion, Prof. Adenike Jimoh from the College of Medicine, Bingham University, Jos, delivered a keynote lecture focused on the irreversible importance of the first 1000 days—from conception to a child’s second birthday.
She described this period as a unique window of opportunity where nutrition directly shapes a child’s lifelong destiny. “This is the period of most rapid brain development and physical growth,” Jimoh stated. “Nutritional deficiencies during this window do not merely cause temporary weight loss; they can lead to permanent stunting (impaired growth), diminished cognitive capacity, and weakened immune systems.”
The implications, she stressed, extend far beyond the individual. A generation deprived of optimal nutrition in early life faces reduced learning potential and lower productivity, ultimately diminishing the community’s socio-economic prospects for decades. Therefore, investing in maternal nutrition during pregnancy and infant nutrition in the first two years is an investment in the state’s future workforce, innovation, and stability.
The collective message from the summit was clear: tackling malnutrition in Kwara requires moving from short-term, project-based thinking to a long-term, systemic strategy where every sector recognizes its role in building a nourished and thriving population. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
FATY/AMM
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Edited by Abiemwense Moru
