The Lagos State government has launched its state policy on food and nutrition as well as the multi-sectoral strategic plan of action, reports NaijaAgroNet.
Speaking at the formal launch at the Sheraton Lagos on Wednesday, the state commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget, Mr. Sam Egube, said it was one of a major land mark in the effort of the present administration in addressing pillar two of the T.H.E.M.E.S agenda.
Egube said, nutrition is a fundamental human right that all citizens are entitled to, noting that its not just about eating what is available, but eating good with adequate nutrients, stressing that nutrition is one of the arts that most people take for granted, buttressing this with a slogan of nutrition which says “You are what you eat”.
Egube also said that nutrition has been established and ascertained as the bed-rock of good health for every human being irrespective of his social status.
He lamented that despite the fact that there is enough food for everybody on earth, yet, “malnutrition is still common and it is associated with millions of deaths globally every year.”
The good initiative to establish and inaugurate the State Committee on Food and Nutrition in Year 2016, he said, was a laudable and commendable effort of Lagos State Government.
“The goal of the State Policy is to attain optimal nutritional status for all residents of the State, with particular emphasis on the most vulnerable groups such as the young children, pregnant mothers, lactating women, adolescents, physically challenged people, the elderly, and the aged,” he said.
In addition, Mr. Egube said, the rationale of implementation of the interventions in the Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action is to encourage all the citizens to practice adequate nutrition throughout the phases of life.
“Adequate food and nutrition for all is globally accepted and prioritized as a developmental agenda that yields high socio-economic returns when embraced”. It has both direct and indirect link to all the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he said.
The Commissioner further said that the importance of this policy on food and nutrition is to holistically address the challenges of malnutrition and extreme hunger across different levels in Lagos State.
“The policy and its Multi-sectoral Plan of Action will strengthen synergy among public and private sectors, development partners to collaborate and involve in the implementation of activities towards eradication of malnutrition in our State,” Egube said.
He, therefore, called on all their partners to collaborate with the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to adopt this policy for effective implementation of programmes and projects to achieve the set targets.
The launch attracted Lagos State partners including the Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) led by the Chairman, Steering Committee at CS-SUNN, Mr. Ifedilichukwu Ekene Innocent, Lead on Partnership and Collaboration, Mrs. Eberechukwu M. Okey-Onyema and acting Executive Secretary, Mr. Sunday Okoronkwo as well as the Lagos State CS-SUNN coordinator, Dr. Mrs Modupe Akinyinka, National Coordinator, Media Centre Against Child Malnutrition (MeCAM), Remmy Nweke, among others.
Ayo Mide/Editor
No comments:
Post a Comment
Share ur views here