The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has described Nigeria’s health sector workforce as highly skilled and dedicated, expressing confidence in the ability of the country’s health team to make effective use of support aimed at tackling hunger and child malnutrition.
She made this known when the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Mohammed Ali Pate, led a delegation of a US-based organisation, Operation End Starvation, and other agencies under the ministry to seek her support for a partnership to address hunger and malnutrition in the country.
The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, is exploring collaboration with the organisation to strengthen efforts to combat acute child malnutrition and prevent deaths caused by starvation.
Speaking during the meeting, Pate said Nigeria was committed to addressing malnutrition through existing government frameworks. He noted that the recently launched National Community Food Bank Programme, implemented in partnership with the Office of the First Lady, was already making a positive impact across the six geopolitical zones.
“Nigeria is working hard to scale down its 6.4 million figure of acute child malnutrition, while also attending to the health of pregnant women and lactating mothers,” he said.
“A lot of good things are already happening in the country.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Operation End Starvation, Williams Holdsworth Moore, said the initiative, supported by a macro grant from the US Government and other global philanthropists, aimed to direct more than $1bn annually towards preventing child deaths caused by starvation.
“The foundation is impressed by Nigeria’s focus on combating acute malnutrition and we are seeking partnership for this global ‘Operation End Starvation’ program,” he said.
“We want to move 1 billion to end starvation in the next 2 years across Sub Saharan Africa. The burden is high but the capacity is also very high.”
Moore added that the US State Department had approved Nigeria’s inclusion in the programme’s outlook.
“We have met with the Nigeria health team and they are the one of the best of many we have met,” he said.
Responding, Tinubu said the level of expertise, commitment and dedication demonstrated by Nigerian professionals extended beyond the health sector.
“It’s been a delight working with Prof Pate, Dr Muyi and others. I also work with the Ministry of Education and others. The manpower we have now in the Ministries are so wonderful,” she said.
The First Lady added that President Bola Tinubu was undertaking reforms aimed at overhauling the country’s system, expressing optimism that Nigeria was making progress.
“Nigeria deserves better and there is nothing we give to her that is too much because if the system works, it will ultimately come back to us,” she said.
She assured the delegation that any assistance provided would be put to effective use by the country’s health team.
“I assure you that whatever aid you give us, this Health team would put it to good use,” she said.
Operation End Starvation, an initiative of the Eleanor Crook Foundation, aims to make Nigeria a primary site for demonstrating the impact of large-scale investment through direct government partnerships over the next two years.
The nonprofit public-private partnership initiative seeks to end child malnutrition and deaths caused by starvation across sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria.
