Nigeria’s commitment to Zero Hunger is a key enabler for the National Policy on Food and Nutrition

On 29 April 2016, Nigeria’s Zero Hunger imitative was launched at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Headquarters in Ibadan, Nigeria. This inaugural event saw the organisation of working committees, and begun the development of a roadmap towards making sure that Nigeria attains the Global Goal that world leaders have set for 2030 to “end chronic hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity.”

Addressing the forum, former President of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who is also the convener of the initiative, called for collective change of mind from all Nigerians, insisting that a multi-stakeholder and multi-dimensional approach is highly desirable to achieve the goal of a zero hunger nation by 2025 ahead of the 2030 deadline given by the United Nations. The Zero Hunger Challenge, launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2012, is his personal vision of a world without hunger and a global call to action to achieve zero hunger.

“Although the SDGs are laudable, the key to achieving them depends on implementation and our collective will. Let me reiterate that the task of attaining the SDGs cannot be left for the government alone, neither can it be left for the civil society nor the private sector. It is going to take the collective effort of each and every citizen of this great nation and our partners. It will require our collective change of mindset to at first identify the opportunities that abound. It is in this context that we have invited you to this meeting. We will be looking at the second goal of the SGDs which is Zero Hunger. Our main focus will be to clearly articulate what the country needs to do to achieve the SGDs.” Chief Olusegun Obasanjo,  former President of Nigeria and convenor of the Zero Hunger Initiative.

Also speaking at the event, Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole described the ‘Zero Hunger’ as not only a well-designed initiative but also an enabler for other good things in the nation. The minister expressed hope that it (initiative) will help to facilitate the implementation of the National Policy on Food and Nutrition that was recently approved by the Federal Government.

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