By Mercy Aikoye
Vice President Kashim Shettima has urged the private sector to invest in Nigeria’s nutrition sector, saying the government cannot provide adequate nutrition for the country’s over 220 million people alone.
Shettima made the call at a Private Sector High-Level Roundtable Engagement on Nutrition in Abuja, where he directed that nutrition financing, governance and accountability be treated with the same seriousness as matters of national security.
Represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health, Mrs Uju Rochas-Anwukah, the Vice President said nutrition had moved beyond being a secondary issue under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said the government recognised that a strong economy could not be built on stunted children and anaemic mothers, stressing that nutrition was critical to education, workforce productivity, economic growth and national competitiveness.
According to him, the government’s commitment to addressing malnutrition is reflected in the Nutrition 774 Initiative (N-774), described as Nigeria’s flagship nutrition governance and accountability framework designed to accelerate action against malnutrition across the country’s 774 Local Government Areas.
Shettima said the initiative was deliberately structured to involve the private sector, development partners, communities and all levels of government in delivering measurable nutrition outcomes.
“The N-774 was never built as a government-only framework. From its foundation, the private sector was designed in as one of its core pillars and as a delivery partner.
“Seven hundred and seventy-four Local Government Areas means 774 points of demand, 774 supply chains waiting to be built,” he said.
The Vice President urged businesses to see nutrition as an investment opportunity rather than a charitable cause, calling for capital to be channelled into commercially viable nutrition enterprises, local food production, fortification and supply chains capable of reaching underserved communities.
“We need you, the private sector, as investors, not donors. We need capital that flows to commercially viable nutrition enterprises — local production, fortification, supply chains that reach underserved communities,” he said.
He also called on financial institutions to develop financing mechanisms for the nutrition sector, noting that nutrition investment could generate significant economic returns.
Shettima said mobilising private capital for nutrition should be viewed as industrial, trade and investment policy, adding that the government expected the meeting to produce concrete and measurable commitments.
He listed the expected outcomes to include a shared national framework for structured private-sector engagement, identification of financing, regulatory, fiscal, market and technical barriers, as well as an accountable mechanism with timelines, reporting structures and a roadmap.
He further called for specific commitments from companies, financial institutions, industry associations and development partners.
The Vice President urged private-sector operators to work with the government through the N-774 at the federal, state and local government levels and to attach clear figures and timelines to their commitments.
“Be accountable, put a number and a date on your commitment, and report back to us on it.
“We are not asking you to give. We are asking you to invest in a market, in a workforce, in a nation that is ready to grow,” he said.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Industry, John Owan-Enoh, described the roundtable as a turning point in Nigeria’s economic and public health policy.
Owan-Enoh said nutrition should no longer be viewed solely from a medical or humanitarian perspective but as an industrial strategy, a driver of MSME competitiveness and a contributor to workforce productivity and national wealth creation.
He noted that Nigeria was facing a double burden of malnutrition, including persistent undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies alongside an increase in diet-related non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
The minister said the private sector was central to addressing the challenge because it produces, processes, packages and markets a large proportion of the food consumed by Nigerians.
He said the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment was committed to developing a Unified Trade Sector Nutrition Strategic Plan to integrate nutrition into the country’s industrial policies, trade frameworks and commercial ecosystems.
Owan-Enoh also said Nigeria should reduce its dependence on imported therapeutic foods and specialised supplements that could be produced locally.
He pledged that the ministry would strengthen local patronage policies to create demand for indigenous processors and ensure that public and institutional procurement prioritised locally processed and nutritious foods.
The roundtable was organised in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President and coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, alongside the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Bank of Industry, UNICEF, Access to Nutrition, Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria and other stakeholders.
