Private sector determined to tackle malnutrition – CPC

Nigerian private sector has taken the bold step to tackle malnutrition in Nigeria by coming together to establish the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Business Network, a network that is part of the global SUN movement, convened by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).
Director-general, Consumer Protection Council of Nigeria (CPC), Tunde Irukera, pledged his agency’s commitment to the ongoing nutrition improvement campaign led by members of the SUN Business Network.
Irukera gave the pledge recently in Lagos at a nutrition workshop convened by the Lagos Business School’s First Bank Sustainability Centre in collaboration with GAIN and the SUN Business Network to review the organisation’s progress, as part of activities to commemorate the first year anniversary of SUN in Nigeria.
CPC will work with the SUN Business Network to promote educational messages and guidelines on nutrition communication to drive consumers capacity to demand for nutritious foods and improved nutrition, Irukera said.
At the event, the National SUN Business Network coordinator, Uduak Igbeka, expressed satisfaction with the level of interest and commitment to the initiative by Nigerian Private Sector. She stressed the need for more non-food sector Businesses to be part of the movement, as fighting malnutrition requires a multi-sectoral approach saying, role exists for everyone.
Dean, Lagos Business School, Enase Okonedo, urged stakeholders to do more to improve nutrition for the citizenry, as nutrition was vital to development of healthy human capital for the country.
The one day event, with the theme “Nutrition: Everyone’s Business”, attracted experts from the academia, public and private sectors, including representatives from the federal ministries of health, agriculture, budget & planning, the federal institute for industrial research (FIIRO), NAFDAC, CPC and over 50 corporate members of SBN Nigeria. Representatives from development agencies including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were also in attendance.
According to the humanitarian organisation fighting hunger worldwide, the World Food Programme (WFP), 5.2 million people in Nigeria are in need of food assistance and according to Cadre Harmonisé Update Analysis in 2016 4.4 million people in three north-eastern Nigerian states are at a “crisis” or worse level of food insecurity.

Hezron Atunde