Governors of Nigeria’s 36 states have pledged to declare a nutrition emergency and establish a National Nutrition Intervention Fund to accelerate the implementation of the Nutrition 774 Initiative across the country’s 774 local government areas.
The initiative is aimed at strengthening efforts to combat malnutrition through increased domestic funding, improved coordination among the three tiers of government and stronger accountability mechanisms to ensure measurable progress in nutrition outcomes.
According to a statement issued by the Vice President’s spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal announced the commitment on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while presenting the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Addis Ababa Commitment on Nutrition at the Nigeria Country Session.
The commitment followed a three-day Nigeria-Ethiopia Nutrition Leadership Exchange, during which the Nigerian delegation, led by Vice President Kashim Shettima, examined Ethiopia’s approaches to tackling malnutrition, particularly its implementation of the Seqota Declaration.
Presenting the governors’ position at the session, themed “From Lessons to Commitment: Accelerating Implementation of the Nutrition 774 Initiative,” Lawal said the governors had resolved to strengthen domestic financing, improve accountability at the grassroots and establish a coordinated system for nutrition planning and budgeting, drawing on lessons from Ethiopia’s experience.
Speaking on behalf of the NGF, the governor explained that the exchange had highlighted the importance of sustained political commitment, effective coordination across sectors, ownership by all levels of government, reliable funding and the consistent use of data to guide decisions and measure performance.
He noted that Nigeria’s Nutrition 774 Initiative already incorporated several principles underpinning Ethiopia’s nutrition strategy, adding that the exchange had provided practical insights into strengthening implementation and achieving tangible results.
According to Lawal, the lessons from Ethiopia included harmonising planning and budgeting, improving intersectoral collaboration, adopting bottom-up planning processes, ensuring predictable funding and using data and performance scorecards to monitor progress.
“We are encouraged that Nigeria’s N774 Initiative already embodies many of the principles we have seen here in Ethiopia. “mThis leadership exchange has, however, provided important practical lessons on how these principles can be further strengthened and translated into results,” he stated.
The governors also highlighted the importance of a matching-fund arrangement between the Federal Government and state governments, describing it as a means of aligning priorities, stimulating investment at the subnational level and strengthening collective responsibility for nutrition outcomes.
Lawal recalled that the Federal Government, state governments and local government authorities had signed the Nutrition Compact on February 20, 2025, in the presence of Vice President Shettima as part of efforts to establish a unified commitment to addressing malnutrition.
He explained that the NGF chairman signed the agreement on behalf of the 36 states, while the president of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) represented the 774 local government areas. The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning signed on behalf of the Federal Government.
According to the governor, the latest commitment would build on the existing compact by adapting relevant lessons from Ethiopia to Nigeria’s peculiar circumstances and translating them into practical interventions involving all three tiers of government.
As part of the new resolutions, the governors agreed to declare nutrition a national emergency, establish a National Nutrition Intervention Fund to accelerate the implementation of the compact and institutionalise the principle of “One Goal, One Plan and One Budget” for nutrition-related programmes.
The proposed fund is expected to encourage stronger leadership at the state level, increase domestic investment, reward effective programme delivery and support measurable improvements in nutrition outcomes.
The governors further resolved to strengthen community-driven planning by ensuring that nutrition needs identified at community and ward levels inform local government, state and national development plans.
They also committed to expanding the National Nutrition Scorecard beyond the state level to incorporate performance indicators for local governments and wards, a move intended to improve transparency and accountability throughout the implementation process.
In addition, the NGF pledged to institutionalise data-driven decision-making and performance management, including the use of state-specific surveys and assessments to generate timely evidence for planning, resource distribution and corrective interventions.
Meanwhile, the Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Muyi Aina, announced that the Federal Government would commence targeted nutrition interventions in two states with high levels of childhood stunting before extending the programme to other parts of the country.
Speaking on behalf of federal agencies, Aina said the Nigerian delegation had gained valuable insights from Ethiopia’s experience in agricultural transformation, early childhood development and the implementation of data-driven programmes.
He identified strong leadership and a clear vision, coordination among the three tiers of government, evidence-based prioritisation, rigorous monitoring and disciplined execution as essential requirements for achieving sustainable improvements in nutrition.
Aina said the Federal Government intended to begin with a focused intervention in two states selected according to their stunting burden, with clear objectives and multisectoral strategies designed to address their specific challenges.
He explained that relevant federal ministers and agencies would collaborate with the selected governors and their teams to determine sectoral priorities, define the responsibilities of each tier of government and engage communities and development partners in implementing the programme.
According to him, the proposed interventions would be costed, while participating governments would work towards a joint financing arrangement and establish measurable indicators to assess implementation and outcomes.
“We will track very rigorously progress in the execution of the plan,” he said.
The NPHCDA chief also proposed conducting progress reviews at three, six and nine months, involving the Vice President, who chairs the National Council on Nutrition.
He said the meetings would provide opportunities to assess performance, identify and resolve implementation challenges, and determine how the interventions could be expanded to additional states.
Aina added that the phased approach would allow the government to learn from implementation, make necessary adjustments and prioritise resources for interventions with the potential to deliver measurable improvements in nutrition.
Also speaking, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, said the Nigeria-Ethiopia exchange had demonstrated how political commitments could be converted into practical measures and measurable improvements in nutrition.
Pate stressed that a coordinated response to malnutrition required clearly defined sectoral responsibilities, a detailed implementation roadmap, performance measurement frameworks and effective accountability mechanisms.
He said the Federal Government would collaborate with state governments to translate the commitments reached during the exchange into concrete interventions, with implementation progress to be reported to the Vice President through the National Council on Nutrition.
According to the minister, achieving sustainable results would require coordinated efforts involving federal and state authorities, local communities and development partners.
Pate expressed confidence that Nigeria could adapt Ethiopia’s experience to its own development priorities, noting that the East African country’s progress underscored the importance of sustained political leadership and coordinated implementation.
He also thanked the Ethiopian government and its officials for hosting the Nigerian delegation, describing the exchange as an opportunity for both countries to share knowledge and learn from their respective experiences.
The minister further invited Ethiopian officials to visit Nigeria to examine ongoing programmes and identify additional opportunities for bilateral cooperation in addressing malnutrition.
In her remarks, Ethiopia’s Minister of Health, Dr Mekdes Daba, praised Nigeria’s commitment to improving nutrition delivery, describing the leadership exchange as an example of African countries learning from one another to address shared development challenges.
Daba thanked Vice President Shettima for leading the high-level Nigerian delegation to Ethiopia, saying the visit demonstrated Nigeria’s determination to turn its nutrition objectives into practical action.
She described the Nutrition 774 Initiative as a significant national undertaking and emphasised the need to begin with targeted interventions, measure their effectiveness and expand approaches that deliver successful outcomes.
The Ethiopian minister maintained that political commitments must produce tangible improvements in people’s lives, stressing that effective implementation, feedback and continuous assessment were necessary to sustain progress.
She said Ethiopia was prepared to provide technical assistance and collaborate with Nigeria as the country implements and gradually expands the initiative.
Daba described the leadership exchange as the foundation for a lasting partnership between both countries, expressing optimism that continued knowledge-sharing would strengthen their collective efforts to reduce malnutrition.
She added that Nigeria and Ethiopia had a shared responsibility to demonstrate how African countries could draw on their own experiences, expertise and resources to achieve meaningful development outcomes for their populations.
