The Federal Government is seeking a strategic partnership with a United States-based organisation Operation End Starvation (OES) to combat hunger and acute child malnutrition affecting an estimated 6.4 million children in Nigeria with the First Lady Senator Oluremi Tinubu assuring international development partners of the country’s capacity to effectively deploy assistance.
The proposed collaboration which targets over $1 billion annually to prevent child deaths from starvation is expected to strengthen ongoing government interventions in nutrition maternal health and food security particularly among vulnerable populations.
The First Lady who received a delegation from the organisation led by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate praised Nigeria’s current health sector leadership describing the team as among the best the country has assembled.
Speaking during the meeting Mrs Tinubu expressed confidence that the administration’s health officials possessed the expertise and commitment required to ensure that assistance from international partners translated into meaningful improvements in the lives of Nigerians.
According to a statement issued on Monday by her Senior Special Assistant on Media Busola Kukoyi the First Lady commended the quality of personnel serving in President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration noting that their expertise extends 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.
Mrs Tinubu maintained that Nigeria required far-reaching institutional and structural reforms which President Tinubu was already implementing to reposition the country for sustainable development.
‘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 declared.
She assured the visiting delegation that any support extended to Nigeria would be managed responsibly and channelled toward achieving the intended objectives.
‘I assure you that whatever aid you give us this Health team would put it to good use’ the First Lady stated.
Earlier Pate disclosed that the Federal Government was intensifying efforts to reduce the country’s burden of acute child malnutrition currently estimated at 6.4 million while also addressing the nutritional and healthcare needs of pregnant women and nursing mothers.
The Minister explained that the government had established frameworks to combat malnutrition including the recently introduced National Community Food Bank Programme implemented in partnership with the Office of the First Lady.
He said the programme was already recording positive results across the six geopolitical zones demonstrating the administration’s determination to confront hunger and improve nutritional outcomes nationwide.
‘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.
Pate who led officials from agencies under the Health Ministry alongside representatives of Operation End Starvation expressed optimism about the proposed partnership saying significant progress was already being made in the health sector.
‘A lot of good things are already happening in the country’ he added.
In his remarks the Chief Executive Officer of Operation End Starvation Williams Holdsworth Moore explained that the organisation supported by a major grant from the United States Government and contributions from international philanthropists was pursuing an ambitious global initiative to prevent child deaths resulting from starvation.
Moore said the initiative aimed to mobilise more than $1 billion annually to combat child starvation with Nigeria identified as a priority country to demonstrate the impact of large-scale investments through direct government collaboration.
‘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.
He further explained that the organisation intended to channel substantial resources towards ending starvation across sub-Saharan Africa within the next two years.
‘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 stated.
According to him the United States Department of State approved Nigeria’s inclusion in the initiative and the professionalism demonstrated by the country’s health officials further strengthened the organisation’s confidence in the proposed partnership.
‘US State Department approved that Nigeria should be part of our outlook’ he disclosed.
‘We have met with the Nigeria health team and they are one of the best of many we have met’ he added.
Operation End Starvation an initiative of the Eleanor Crook Foundation is a public-private partnership nonprofit established to tackle child malnutrition and prevent deaths from starvation across sub-Saharan Africa.
Over the next two years the organisation plans to make Nigeria a major implementation centre working directly with government institutions to show how coordinated investment and targeted interventions can reduce hunger improve child nutrition and save lives.