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VP Shettima Calls For Concerted Efforts To Tackle Food Insecurity In Nigeria

Published

2 years ago

March 3, 2024

Gloria Ikibah

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By Gloria Ikibah

Vice President, Kashim Shettima, has called on Federal, states and local governments to work together to turn the tide against hunger in Nigeria.

The Vice President stated this on Thursday in Abuja at the inauguration of the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security.

Shettima was represented by the Special Assistant to the President on Public Health Focal person on Nutrition Office of the Vice President, Mrs Uju Rochas Anwukah.

He commended the House for the timely initiative to address food shortages, this he said demonstrates a clear understanding and the urgency and complexity before Nigeria.

Anwukah said: “As we gather here today to address the multi faceted issue of food security and the looming nutritional dangers facing our nation, let us remember that we are all threats in this intricate tapestry of transformation. Each of us play a unique role, from policy makers to farmers, from civil society to private sector partners, to move the policies into actions.

“The renewed hope administration under the visionary leadership of President Bola Tinubu is determined to tackle this food shortage and nutritional challenges that we face today. This challenge not only can be changed but will be changed for the interest and progress of our country”.

”As a government and as a people, it is not time for accusations, it is not time to cast blames, it is definitely not time for politics. It is the time to exchange ideas. It is the time for commitments. It is the time to take responsibility. It is a time for patriotism. Let us, Ladies and gentlemen, more than ever, work together to turn the tide against hunger and malnutrition. Let us sew the seed of change and reap the harvest of wellbeing, prosperity and resilience for all Nigerians”, she said.

While inaugurating the committee, Speaker of the House, Rep. Tajuddeen Abbas, lamented that over 35 million children under the age of five years are currently impacted by malnutrition.

According to him, among the 35 million, 12 million are already stunted; three million are wasted while 23.5 million suffer from anemia.

He further stated that an additional 17.7 million individuals are facing hunger, with 2.6 million children confronting severe acute malnutrition in 2024 adding that among women of childbearing age, 7% experience severe acute malnutrition.

He said: “These figures may exacerbate due to the current food inflation rate, which stands at about 33.7% (according to the Central Bank of Nigeria).

“This Committee is very crucial to the vision of the House to ‘be responsive, results-oriented and effective in performing its constitutional mandate towards the security and welfare of Nigerians.

“Nigeria, like the rest of the world, is experiencing a food crisis, exacerbated by climate change, rising inflation and pervasive insecurity. Hence, the decision of the House to set up a Committee that would be dedicated to fashioning legislative measures actions to tackle the menace of food insecurity and malnutrition affecting our people.

“According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) about 26.5 million Nigerians would be grappling with high levels of food insecurity in 2024, while the country is said to have the second highest burden of malnutrition in the world, with 32% children under the age of five stunted or chronically malnourished”.

The Speaker further that the World Food Programme’s September 2023 publication of the ‘Nigeria Hunger Map’ estimates that 24.9 million Nigerians are in an acute or critical stage of hunger, categorized as an emergency, while 85.8 million Nigerians have insufficient food consumption.

Among this population, he continued, 47.7 million Nigerians resort to crisis-level or above-crisis-level food-based coping strategies.

“The above data paints a very gloomy picture requiring urgent legislative action. This is particularly so given that some of the causative factors are issues within the legislative competence of the House to deal with.

The food and nutrition crisis affecting us as a nation is partly caused by global warming and climate change, pervasive insecurity across the country which prevents farmers and herders from engaging in their various agricultural activities, poor irrigation, outdated land tenure system, crude and traditional farm practices on subsistence levels as well as a myriad of other challenges”, he added.

Similarly, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Mr. Atiku Bagudu, restated the government’s commitment to puting measures in place to ensure adequate nutrition and food security for Nigerians.

“We have the National Food Security Council Chaired by no less a person than the Vice President, Kashim Shettima. We are participants in the United Nations Food System Transformation as well as the institutional alignment through the Ministry of Agriculture being recognised as the Ministry of Agriculture and that of Food Security.

“This is commendable. We recall that in the last administration under former President Muhammadu Buhari, a national security council was created chaired by the President himself and I was privileged to be the Vice Chair of that council.

“What led to it is the recognition that food security is not an agriculture issue, not a health issue, not an environment issue, not a physical security issue. It is all of it. So we need to have stakeholders around the table so we can appreciate, we can do better. The same thing with nutrition.

“The House of Representatives is helping in addressing the challenges. Mr President has recognized these issues and is committed to addressing them.” Mr Bagudu said.

On his part, the chairman of the House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, Rep. Chike Okafor, commended the House leadership for setting up the specialized Committee which focuses on food security and nutrition.

“This is the first time in the history of the Legislature in Nigeria that the leadership of the House thought it necessary to set up a distinct and exclusive Committee for greater legislative attention to critical interventions in the cross-cutting issues of food and nutrition. The creation of this Committee would serve as a swift response to the present economic realities, especially the current unaffordability of basic foods in Nigeria arising from uncontrolled inflation and scarce means”. Hon Okafor said.

He also said that the House would soon convey Food security Summit as part of deliberate measure to address food challenges in Nigeria.

Stakeholders at the meeting commended the House for setting up the food and nutrition committee saying that it would bring legislative backing to food security in Nigeria.

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Iran war ‘pretty much’ over – Trump

Published

28 minutes ago

March 10, 2026

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President Donald Trump said Monday in an interview with CBS that the war with Iran was “very complete” and that the United States was far ahead of his initial timeline of around a month.

US stocks jumped higher and oil prices sank in after-hours trading following Trump’s comments, despite the fact that there were no immediate signs of the conflict abating.

“I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force,” Trump told CBS News by phone.

“Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones,” he added. “If you look, they have nothing left. There’s nothing left in a military sense.”

Trump told the US broadcaster that the United States was “very far” ahead of his initially stated war time frame of four or five weeks.

The US leader has given similar assessments in recent days of battle damage from the US-Israeli strikes that began on February 28, but had not gone as far in saying that the war was nearing an end.

Just last Friday, Trump issued a statement that Iran’s “unconditional surrender” was the only acceptable outcome for ending the war.

And his comments came about an hour after the Pentagon posted on social media that the United States had “only just begun to fight.”

CBS reported that when asked if he thought the war could wrap up soon, Trump answered: “Wrapping up is all in my mind, nobody else’s.”

Trump also threatened Iran if it tried to close the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping lane where oil tanker transit has already virtually halted, sending energy prices soaring around the world.

He said he was “thinking about taking it over” even as he insisted that traffic was starting to move.

The US president however had few words for Iran’s new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was elected to replace his slain father Ali Khamenei.

“I have no message for him. None, whatsoever,” Trump said, adding that he had someone else in mind to lead Iran.

Trump earlier told the New York Post he was “not happy” with Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment.

AFP

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‘I’ve never fought my husband over infidelity’ – Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde

Published

31 minutes ago

March 10, 2026

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Nollywood icon Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has opened up about the strength and trust that have sustained her 30-year marriage, revealing she has never had to confront her husband over infidelity.

In an interview on the Afropolitan podcast, the actress and philanthropist described her union with husband Matthew Ekeinde as built on mutual trust, selflessness, and zero ego clashes. She emphasized that she has never fought over another woman in their three decades together.

“I’ve been married to him now 30 years. I’ve never fought over a girl, you know?” Omotola said. “He doesn’t disturb me. If I have to go to my work, I go to my work. I come back. He trusts me totally. I trust him.”

The mother of four stressed that divorce is not an option for her personally, though she made it clear she is not against it for others.

“Divorce is not an option for me. It doesn’t mean it’s not an option for you. Let’s get that straight. I’m not against divorce,” she clarified. “I just always believe that marriage is a very personal thing. My marriage can never be the same thing as your marriage. No two marriages are the same because no two persons are the same.”

Omotola explained that every relationship has different “ingredients,” and what works for her may not apply to others facing trust issues or betrayal.

“You might be dealing with someone that has broken your trust and you’re trying to build that back,” she noted. “So those things are different… For me, how do you want to penetrate? It’s going to be very hard because I know this person. I’ve been with this person for 30 years, since I was 18.”

The veteran actress praised her husband’s character, describing him as “very selfless” and free of ego, qualities she credits for the peace and longevity of their marriage.

With over three decades in the acting profession, Omotola is known for movies like Blood Sister, RattleSnake: The Ahanna Story, Alter Ego, amongst others.

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Petrol May Hit N2,000 per Litre Amid Refinery Price Hike, PETROAN Warns

Published

34 minutes ago

March 10, 2026

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The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has warned that petrol prices could surge to nearly N2,000 per litre if current trends persist.

This is following Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals’ hike of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), to N1,175 per litre from N995 on Monday.

PETROAN urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) to urgently boost domestic refining capacity to insulate Nigeria from global petroleum market shocks. PETROAN president, Dr Billy Gillis-Harry said, “PMS could rise close to N2,000 per litre while AGO may approach N3,000 per litre if the situation persists,” Dr Harry warned.
PETROAN specifically called on NNPC Group CEO Engr. Bayo Ojulari to restart production at local refineries, including the Area 5 Plant at Port Harcourt and Warri Refinery, which operated briefly before shutting down for profitability assessments.

Dr Harry linked the volatility to the Israel-US-Iran conflict, with drone and missile attacks disrupting oil routes and supply chains. Before the crisis, he noted, petrol sold at N774 per litre (now over N1,000, up 30 per cent) and diesel (AGO) at N950 (now N1,400+, up 49 per cent).He stressed rehabilitating government refineries to leverage Nigeria’s crude reserves under NNPC custody, making them less vulnerable than import-reliant private ones.

Continued hikes, he warned, would fuel inflation, job losses, economic hardship, higher transport costs, and pricier goods—PMS powers daily mobility, AGO industry.
Dr Harry lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s oil and gas reforms, urging him to order immediate refinery restarts for citizen relief and economic stimulus.