With more than 35 million children affected by malnutrition, the National Technical Committee on Nutrition Financing has called for increased budget allocation for nutritional interventions in 2025.
The technical committee calls for nutritional intervention to be prioritised in the next budget and expanded to meet the country's needs.
According to a recent statement, the committee made this call during a courtesy visit to the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation, Tanimu Yakubu.
The committee, which was established under the Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) Project with support from the World Bank, has stressed the need to address the country’s food and nutrition crisis with a sense of urgency, given that it is continually exacerbated by current socio-economic challenges.
According to the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), malnutrition is a direct or underlying cause of 45 percent of all deaths in children under five years of age.
The nonprofit estimates that at least 2 million children suffer from severe acute malnutrition. Nigeria has the second-highest burden of stunted children in the world, with a national prevalence rate of 32% in children under five.
Evidence-based intervention
To address this crisis, the non-profit organisation demanded that evidence-based nutritional interventions be prioritised in the 2025 budgets of relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
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The committee also suggested that ministries and official departments label nutrition-related budgets, saying that using a standardized nutrition budget labeling framework will help track how nutrition-related funds are managed at different stages.
“The meeting laid the groundwork for stronger multi-sectoral collaboration and highlighted the urgency of securing sustainable financing to combat malnutrition and promote healthier food systems across the country,” the statement reads in part.
The committee noted that while progress has been made in funding for nutritional intervention in recent years, more needs to be done.
“Budgetary data for the past three years has shown a gradual growth in domestic resources for nutrition in the federal budget from N10.8 billion in 2021, N6.5 billion in 2023 to N18 billion in 2024,” the statement read.
Malnutrition in Nigeria
According to UNICEF, northern states are the most affected by both forms of malnutrition: stunting and wasting.
The country's high rates of malnutrition pose serious obstacles to public health and development.
Stunting, in addition to increasing mortality risks, is associated with impaired cognitive growth, decreased academic performance and lower adult productivity, which together drive economic losses estimated at up to 11 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to UNICEF.
Meanwhile, the task force leader of the Accelerating Nutrition Outcomes in Nigeria (ANRiN) Project, Ritgak Tilley-Gyado, also explained that the integration of nutrition into budget circulars began two years ago and continues to evolve with a focus on learning and adaptation for better impact.
He noted that this initiative is part of a broader effort involving analytical studies and reforms in public financial management, including assessments of allocative efficiency to prioritize budget allocation.
The members of the technical committee are: the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, the Federal Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
Others include representatives from the Office of the Vice President, the Federal Budget Office, the Accountant General of the Federation, the Nigerian Governors Forum, the World Bank, Results for Development and Civil Society for Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN).
