Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, on Tuesday inaugurated the Abia State Council on Nutrition to implement the Nutrition 774 (N-774) Initiative of the Federal Government.

Inaugurating the Council, which is constituted to provide overall leadership, policy direction, coordination, and oversight for the effective implementation and sustainability of nutritional activities across the state in line with the policy directives of the Federal Government’s N-774, Governor Otti said the initiative is a welcomed development.

Governor Otti said that the advocacy visit to the state by the National Technical Working Group, led by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health and the Focal Person on Nutrition 774, Mrs. Uju Rochas-Anwukah, would awaken the consciousness of the state to become intentional in the reporting of nutrition indicators across various sectors of the state’s economy.

This is contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by Otti’s Chief Press Secretary, Ukoha Njoku Ukoha, and made available to Ekwutosblog.

“Clearly, when you talk about nutrition, the initiative is very good and we welcome it. The heavy investments we are making, first of all, in healthcare—15% of our total budget envelope in the last two years has been reserved for healthcare and 20% for education. So that’s a whopping 35% of the total budget.

“So, when you see us fixing roads in Aba, in Umuahia, cleaning up the environment, ensuring that the investments we are making in healthcare—you will find that if people are well fed, they will probably not be sick. So, you will find that your investment is good there, and the number of people that take ill will be reducing.

“So, what am I driving at? I’m saying as a government, we’ve taken those decisions that give the kind of outcomes you are monitoring.

“But we have not been deliberate in monitoring the numbers. And now that you have come here, if there’s nothing else you have succeeded in doing, it’s to now get us to be deliberate in monitoring our numbers,” Gov. Otti stated.

He urged members of the newly inaugurated Nutrition Council to ensure effective coordination and performance tracking, noting that such an attitude is a direct intervention which he said is important.

Presenting an overview of the initiative, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Nutrition and the Focal Person for the Nutrition 774 initiative, Uju Rochas-Anwukah, said the N-774 is a multisectoral, community-based programme established to improve nutritional outcomes across the 774 LGAs in the country.

Rochas-Anwukah, who said that malnutrition is a global menace that requires collective efforts to combat, regretted that Nigeria is ranked number 2 globally in malnutrition and added that malnutrition contributes to about 45% of children’s deaths and drives intergenerational poverty.

She said that a national framework, Nutrition 774, which is a flagship programme of the National Council on Nutrition, has been collectively developed to tackle the menace of malnutrition. She added that Nutrition 774 adopts a multisectoral approach to health, food systems, education, social protection, water sanitation, etc.

She commended Governor Otti for the transformational works he is doing for Abia people, which speaks volumes of his leadership capacity.

“We may not reside here, but even from Abuja, we hear the testimonies of progress. We sincerely commend you, and this speaks volumes of your leadership and vision, and we congratulate you and your entire team. Your Excellency, malnutrition is a menace killing our people.

“It’s a global challenge. It doesn’t just exist here in Nigeria. It’s a universal issue that does not understand tribal differences.

“It doesn’t understand religious differences. It does not understand political differences. But it’s one that requires a collective, collaborative effort across all sectors and across all tiers of government,” Rochas-Anwukah stated.

The Council, which will be chaired by the Governor, has its membership drawn from various line ministries including: Commissioner for Budget and Planning who serves as Vice Chairman, Chairman House Committee on Food and Nutrition, ALGON Chairman, Commissioners for Health, Agriculture, Basic and Secondary Education, Finance, Women Affairs, Information, Arts, Culture and Creative Economy, Power and Public Utilities, Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, while the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Budget and Planning, serves as Secretary of the Council.

The meeting and inauguration were attended by senior government appointees.