“Ensuring that pregnant women receive the necessary micronutrients is a vital step in reducing maternal mortality and improving child health.

“This donation is a testament to our commitment to supporting the Government of Nigeria in scaling MMS coverage and making maternal health a national priority”, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Cristian Munduate said.

With approximately 12 million pregnancies recorded in Nigeria in 2024, as reported by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the demand for Multiple Micronutrient Supplements (MMS) remains high. Expanding access to these supplements is essential to improving maternal and child health outcomes. To achieve this, increased investment from both the Federal and State Governments is necessary, leveraging the 1:1 match fund mechanism of the Child Nutrition Fund to enhance MMS procurement and distribution nationwide.

“Nigeria is taking decisive steps to address maternal nutrition challenges. The inclusion of MMS in our Essential Medicines List and investments in local production are key milestones in ensuring sustainable access.

“The government remains committed to expanding this initiative to reach every pregnant woman in need”, Professor Mohammed Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare said.

“We are proud to be part of this collaborative effort to improve maternal and child health in Nigeria,” said Spencer Kirk, Founder of Kirk Humanitarian.

Providing MMS at scale is one of the most impactful ways to support healthy pregnancies and ensure better outcomes for mothers and babies. Our goal is to continue working with partners to expand this initiative further

UNICEF remains committed to supporting the Government of Nigeria in scaling up MMS coverage and strengthening maternal and child health interventions. Nigeria has taken a pioneering step by being one of the first countries to include MMS in the Essential Medicines List and invest in local manufacturing of MMS, ensuring long-term sustainability and accessibility.

The Child Nutrition Fund, managed by UNICEF, is supported by a coalition of global partners, including the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office, the Gates Foundation, and Kirk Humanitarian. This fund provides a sustainable financing model that ensures more pregnant women receive essential micronutrients for a healthy pregnancy and improved birth outcomes.

By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

Kenneth Okonkwo, ex- spokesperson for the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign council, has finally dumped the party.

Okonkwo was the LP campaign spokesperson in the 2023 election.

In his resignation statement, he said the LP had been afflicted by internal and leadership crises.

“My entrance to politics is for good governance, and I will continue to work for it to ensure that Nigeria becomes a great country of incorruptible men.

“This aim can no longer be realised within Labour Party as presently constituted,” he said.

“Since the party is non-existent as presently constituted, I am constrained to resign my membership of the party to all Nigerians of goodwill who supported us when we needed them most and to pledge my continued loyalty to the Nigerian people in all I will decide to do in my political future.”

The Nollywood actor said he was open to switching party and pitching his political tent elsewhere.

“This resignation takes effect from the 25th of February, 2025, which marks the second anniversary of the presidential election of 2023, after which I will be at liberty to join other well meaning, and like minded Nigerians in charting a great future of good governance for this great country blessed by God,” he stated

Okonkwo said the tenure of the party’s leadership had long elapsed and the caretaker committee set up to salvage the party had been hindered by unnecessary litigation.

He criticised Julius Abure, national chairman of the LP, for allegedly prioritising personal interests over the survival of the party.

In June 2024, Okonkwo described the LP as “a secret society led by a group of clowns”.

In an interview on Symfoni, a news platform, Okonkwo warned that he would not rule out joining another party if the LP continued on a “trajectory where they cannot even hold an acceptable national convention”.

In July, Okonkwo said he no longer had confidence in the ability of Peter Obi, ex-presidential candidate of LP, to build a party that could win elections.

He said Obi had “proved that even if the people vote for him, he does not have what it takes to secure the mandate”.

Okonkwo left the All Progressives Congress (APC) for LP in 2022, citing the former’s adoption of a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the 2023 presidential poll.

LP LEADERSHIP CRISIS

The LP has been embroiled in a leadership crisis since Lamidi Apapa, deputy national chairman of the party (south), declared himself the acting national chairman last year.

The crisis deepened in 2024 when a national convention of the party in Anambra saw Abure re-elected as chairman amid opposition from a faction of the party.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had said it did not monitor the LP’s national convention.

The board of trustees (BoT) of the party described the convention that re-elected Abure as a charade and added that Abure’s tenure was over.

In February 2024, Oluchi Oparah, the party’s national treasurer, accused Abure of misappropriating N3.5 billion, a claim the LP chairman denied while threatening legal action.

The allegation led to calls from party members for Abure’s removal.

In April, the FCT high court issued an order restraining Abure from parading himself as the national chairman of the LP.

While ruling on an ex parte application, Hamza Muazu, the presiding judge, also restrained Farouk Ibrahim, national secretary; Clement Ojukwu, national organising secretary; and Opara; from parading themselves as national officers of the party.

In September, Nenadi Usman, a former senator representing Kaduna south, was appointed to chair a 29-member caretaker committee after Alex Otti, governor of Abia state, convened a stakeholders meeting of the party in Umuahia.

Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed, his running mate in the 2023 vote, were among the top party members that attended the meeting.

INEC had also invalidated Abure’s leadership, saying the national convention violated the constitution and Electoral Act.

The electoral body said the party failed to meet legal requirements for holding the convention, insisting that Abure’s tenure as LP national chair expired in June 2024.

But in a judgment on October 8, the federal high court affirmed the Abure-led leadership and the March 2024 Nnewi convention that produced the party executives.

Nwite ordered INEC to recognise Abure as the legitimate chairman of the party.

On January 17, 2025, the court of appeal in Abuja affirmed Abure as the LP national chairman.

The court ruled that its earlier decision of November 2024, recognising Abure as the party’s chairman, remains valid and has not been overturned by any court.

A verdict delivered by Hamma Barka also voided a judgment of the federal high court delivered on October 8, 2024 by Nwite, on the grounds that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the suit.

[TheCable]