The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has launched the South-South zonal phase of the National Community Food Banking Program in Cross River, with a renewed commitment to address food insecurity and malnutrition among vulnerable Nigerians.
The programme, launched on Friday in Calabar by the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, targets children under six years of age, pregnant women and lactating mothers, with the provision of nutritious food to support healthy growth and development.
The South-South launch covers Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Rivers states and marks the fifth zonal launch of the national program after similar launches in the North East, North West, North Central and South West zones.
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The First Lady said three community food banks were being launched simultaneously in the three senatorial districts of Cross River.
They are located at Ediba Primary Health Center in Cross River South, MCH Ikom in Cross River Central and MCH Ogoja in Cross River North.
According to her, the initiative is a deliberate and sustainable response to food insecurity and malnutrition among vulnerable households and aligns with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly in the areas of food security, healthcare and citizen well-being.
He urged the South-South governors to establish community food banks in at least three senatorial districts of their respective states, working with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to provide the necessary operational support to sustain the programme.
Tinubu said the nationwide rollout will be completed next week with the launch of the southeast phase in Anambra State.
He said the success of the program would largely depend on the commitment of state governments to ensure that vulnerable families benefit from it.
Speaking at the launch, the Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, said the program was critical to the development of Nigeria’s human capital and emphasized that the country could not achieve sustainable prosperity without a well-nourished population.
Pate described nutrition as part of the country’s “grey matter infrastructure” and said investment in the health and nutrition of children and women was as important as investment in physical infrastructure.
He said Nigeria, despite being richly endowed, continued to bear the burden of stunting and malnutrition among children and women.
According to him, the federal government’s economic reforms are creating the conditions for national growth, but the benefits will not translate into sustainable development unless the country also invests in its people.
He therefore called on all South-South states to replicate the Cross River model and urged local governments to leverage primary health care infrastructure to implement the programme.
Pate said the Federal Government will continue to mobilize resources for the initiative and ensure that vulnerable Nigerians receive both macronutrients and micronutrients.
Governor Bassey Otu said Cross River was prepared to complement the intervention of the federal government, noting that the state had already established functional food banks in its three senatorial districts.
Otu said his administration was also addressing the root causes of hunger and poverty through investments in agriculture and food production.
He listed a 50,000-hectare rice cultivation program, a 20,000-hectare cassava farming cluster, support for fishermen and artisans, subsidies to farmers and agribusiness operators, as well as investments in small farmer groups.
He said the state’s Special Agricultural Processing Zone would provide a ready market for farmers, while a proposed £70bn public-private investment program would further strengthen the agricultural sector.
The governor said the food bank initiative would complement the state’s efforts to reduce hunger, improve livelihoods and strengthen food security.
UNICEF representative at the event, Nemat Hajeebhoy, Chief of Nutrition, UNICEF, Nigeria (Abuja), commended the Federal Government, the Cross River State Government and the First Lady for prioritizing food and nutrition security.
Hajeebhoy, who represented National Director Dr Wafaa Saeed, said Cross River was an appropriate state for the South-South launch as it had recorded a decline in malnutrition rates in the last five years.
However, he warned that nutrition indicators remained a cause for concern and called for greater multi-sector coordination involving the health, agriculture and social protection sectors.
He also highlighted the importance of having reliable data to measure the impact of the program, noting that interventions must be guided by accurate information.
The UNICEF representative reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to working with federal and state governments, development partners, the private sector and communities to ensure that all Nigerian children have access to adequate nutrition.
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