The Nigerian Government has called on the organised Private sector to support efforts to address the country’s nutrition challenges through increased investment, innovation and local production.
The call was made at a High-Level Private Sector Roundtable Engagement on Nutrition organised by the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade, Mr John Owan-Enoh, described the engagement as “a decisive turning point in Nigeria’s economic and public health journey.”
He said the government could not address the country’s nutrition challenges alone, noting that nutrition had for decades been viewed largely through a medical or humanitarian lens.
“Today, we declare a bold, permanent policy shift: Nutrition is an industrial strategy, a driver of MSME competitiveness, a backbone of workforce productivity and an engine of national wealth creation.
“Our nation faces a grave double burden of malnutrition, persistent undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies alongside a rising wave of diet-related non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes.
“This crisis extracts an agonising toll on our people and drains billions of dollars annually from our economy,” Owan-Enoh said.
The Minister said FMITI, through the National Policy on Food and Nutrition, was translating national goals into concrete, sector-specific actions covering trade, health, agriculture, social protection and education.
He said “the ministry was committed to championing nutrition-sensitive industrial interventions and leading the development of the Unified Trade Sector Nutrition Strategic Plan.”
According to him, the plan is designed to integrate nutrition into Nigeria’s industrial policies, trade frameworks and commercial ecosystems.
Owan-Enoh said Nigerians should be encouraged to produce what they consume while promoting the consumption of locally produced goods.
He said Nigeria must strengthen domestic capacity to produce therapeutic foods and specialised nutritional supplements that could currently be imported.
“As we build capacity at home, Nigeria must stop importing therapeutic foods and specialised supplements that our domestic industry can produce.
“FMITI will aggressively enforce local patronage policies to guarantee market demand, protect indigenous processors and ensure public and institutional procurements prioritise locally processed, nutritious foods.
“Achieving national nutrition security requires an all-of-government and all-of-society response,” he said.
Nutrition as Economic Priority
In his welcome address, the Permanent Secretary of FMITI, Dr Chris Osa Isokpunwu, stressed that nutrition was not only a health-sector responsibility but also an economic and industrial priority, with direct implications for productivity, enterprise development, investment, trade and the wellbeing of Nigerians.
“For this reason, the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment is pleased to be part of this important conversation.
“If Nigeria is to achieve sustainable improvements in nutrition, we must strengthen the systems that produce, process, finance, distribute and make nutritious food available to our people,” Isokpunwu said.
He commended the Office of the Vice President for its leadership of the Nutrition 774 Initiative and the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning for its coordinating role in the national nutrition agenda.
The Permanent Secretary also acknowledged partners, particularly the Access to Nutrition Initiative, INAF, FHSA, the World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, GIZ, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, BOPINC and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, for their support and commitment to the initiative.
He said the private sector must be at the centre of efforts to address the country’s nutrition challenges, given its investment capacity, innovation, production networks and market reach.
“Our task, therefore, is to create an environment in which responsible private investment can flourish, local value addition can expand, MSMEs can grow, and safe and nutritious food products can reach more Nigerians at affordable prices,” he said.
He said that the ministry sought to identify opportunities and bottlenecks across the food value chain, map relevant private-sector capabilities and develop a practical pathway towards a broader national platform under the MarketFit Nutrition 2035 framework.
“If we get this right, the gains will extend well beyond nutrition. We will strengthen domestic industry, create markets for Nigerian farmers, support MSMEs, attract investment, create jobs and build a more resilient food system,” Isokpunwu said.
Private Investment
Representing Vice President Kashim Shettima, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Health, Mrs Uju Rochas-Anwukah, said the current administration recognised that no nation could build a strong economy without addressing malnutrition.
She said nutrition was no longer a side conversation in the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Rochas-Anwukah said the Nutrition 774 Initiative (N-774) was Nigeria’s flagship nutrition governance and accountability framework, designed to accelerate action on malnutrition across all 774 local government areas.
She said “the initiative strengthened the implementation of national nutrition priorities through a coordinated, community-driven approach involving the federal, state and local governments, private sector, development partners and communities.”
According to her, N-774 recognises malnutrition not only as a health challenge but also as a constraint to educational attainment, workforce productivity, economic growth and national competitiveness.
She said the initiative was designed from the outset to include the private sector as a core delivery partner.
“Again, 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.
“Where government provides the governance backbone, N-774 opens the market. Seven hundred and seventy-four local government areas means 774 points of demand, 774 supply chains waiting to be built,” she said.
Rochas-Anwukah said the Nigerian Government could not feed more than 220 million people alone, urging the private sector to invest in nutrition as a commercial opportunity rather than merely as philanthropy.
“We need you, the private sector, as investors, not donors. We need capital that flows to commercially viable nutrition enterprises — local production, fortification and supply chains that reach underserved communities.
“We need your innovation to make nutritious food affordable. We need financial institutions willing to underwrite this sector the way you underwrite telecoms or agriculture, because nutrition is one of the highest-return investments any economy can make,” she said.
She said mobilising private capital for nutrition was simultaneously an industrial, trade and investment policy.
Rochas-Anwukah identified four key outcomes expected from the meeting.
They include agreement on a shared national framework for structured private-sector engagement in nutrition; an assessment of financing, regulatory, fiscal, market and technical barriers and actions required to address them; an accountable mechanism for sustaining the engagement through a technical working group, stakeholder mapping, timelines, reporting and a roadmap; and specific, measurable commitments from companies, financial institutions, industry associations and development partners.
She urged the private sector to invest capital and financing in scalable nutrition solutions and local production capable of delivering affordable and safe products to communities.
The roundtable was organised by FMITI in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President and the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.
It was also held in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Bank of Industry, UNICEF, Access to Nutrition Initiative, Civil Society–Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria and other stakeholders
