National Policy on Food and Nutrition in Nigeria.

The National Food and Nutrition Policy is a document that provides the framework for addressing the problems of food and nutrition insecurity in Nigeria, from the individual, household, community and up to the national level. It guides the identification, design, and implementation of intervention activities across different relevant sectors. Nutrition is a multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary issue involving various sectors including health, agriculture, science and technology, education, trade, economy, and industry. In recognition of this, various sectors in Nigeria have developed policies and strategies to address the nutrition perspectives of their mandates. The first National Food and Nutrition Policy was developed through a multistakeholder process and produced by the NPC in 2001. However, this policy had little or no effect in bringing about improvement in the nutrition situation in Nigeria due to the fact that the policy and the plan of action arising from it were not adequately implemented. This has been due largely to poor funding as well as ineffective coordination and monitoring of the policy implementation.
The guiding principles for implementation of this policy shall include the following: i. Prioritization of poverty reduction and safety nets for the poor in government budgetary allocations; ii. Recognition of adequate food and nutrition as a human right and adopting a rights-based approach to planning, budgeting, and implementation of the policy; iii. Gender considerations and the needs of all vulnerable groups are integral to all components of the policy; iv. Recognition of the multi-sectoral and cross-cutting natures of food and nutrition; v. Utilization of partnership and the network of stakeholders in harnessing resources for the implementation of the policy; vi. Recognition of nutrition as a developmental issue and incorporating food and nutrition considerations into development plans at all levels of government; vii. Establishment of a viable system for guiding and coordinating food and nutrition activities undertaken in the various sectors and at various levels of the society; and viii. Reduction of malnutrition through SUN activities with high impact and low cost interventions.
Its Vision aims at promoting a country where the people are equitably food and nutrition-secure with high quality of life and socioeconomic development contributing to human capital development objectives of Nigeria Vision 20:20:20 and beyond. The Goal aims to attain optimal nutritional status for all Nigerians, with particular emphasis on the most vulnerable groups such as children, adolescents, women, elderly, and groups with special nutritional needs. Its objective aims to achieve the goal of attaining an optimal nutritional status by the year 2025, a number of objectives and targets are articulated as follows: improve food security at the national, community and household levels; reduce undernutrition among infants and children, adolescents and women of reproductive age; significantly reduce micro-nutrient deficiency disorders, especially among the vulnerable group; increase the knowledge of nutrition among the populace and nutrition education into formal and informal trainings; promote optimum nutrition for people in especially difficult circumstances, including PLWHA; prevent and control chronic nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases; incorporate food and nutrition considerations into the Federal, State and Local Government sectoral development plans; promote and strengthen Research, Monitoring and Evaluation of food and nutrition programme; strengthen systems for providing early warning information on the food and nutrition situation; and ensure universal access to nutrition-sensitive social protection.