Shettima Sets Up Nutrition Financing Committee to Strengthen Nigeria’s Nutrition Interventions

Nigeria’s Vice President, Kashim Shettima, has inaugurated a Nutrition Financing Subcommittee to develop a sustainable funding framework for nutrition programmes across the country.

The decision was announced during a virtual meeting of the National Council on Nutrition (NCN) chaired by the Vice President, where stakeholders discussed strategies for improving the financing and implementation of nutrition interventions in Nigeria.

According to Shettima, the newly constituted committee has been given 30 days to develop a comprehensive financing roadmap that will guide the funding of national nutrition programmes. The document will subsequently be presented to both the National Council on Nutrition and the National Economic Council (NEC) for review and final adoption.

The subcommittee will be chaired by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Ali Pate, and will include key members of the Federal Executive Council whose portfolios intersect with nutrition and public health.

Members of the committee include the Ministers of Education, Water Resources, Women Affairs, and Science and Technology, as well as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health. The Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning will serve as the secretariat of the subcommittee.

During the meeting, the Vice President stressed the importance of ring-fencing funding for nutrition programmes to ensure that commitments made by government translate into measurable improvements in the health and well-being of Nigerians.

He emphasised that strengthening nutrition financing is critical to addressing the country’s broader public health challenges, particularly those affecting children and vulnerable populations.

Shettima also called on stakeholders to accelerate the passage of the National Nutrition Bill, noting that the proposed legislation would provide a stronger institutional and policy framework for implementing nutrition-related programmes nationwide.

The Vice President urged ministries, agencies, and development partners to deepen collaboration in order to ensure that Nigeria’s nutrition agenda receives the funding, policy backing, and coordinated implementation required to deliver meaningful impact.