The Kaduna State Government has renewed its commitment to achieving zero malnutrition through stronger grassroots mobilisation, community ownership and increased investment in nutrition interventions.
The Commissioner for the Kaduna State Planning and Budget Commission, Mukhtar Ahmed, stated this on Tuesday, 29th of September 2026 in Kaduna at a high-level stakeholders’ engagement on strengthening grassroots nutrition interventions.
The engagement was organised in collaboration with the wife of the state governor, Hajiya Hafsat Uba Sani.
Ahmed said nutrition was fundamentally about the future of Kaduna, stressing that adequate feeding and care were critical to children’s survival, productivity and the overall development of communities.
He said the state government had continued to strengthen nutrition through policy, planning, financing, service delivery and collaboration with development partners.
According to him, the success of nutrition interventions ultimately depended on activities at the grassroots, where families made decisions concerning food, childcare and healthcare.
Ahmed urged the spouses of local government chairmen participating in the engagement to promote exclusive breastfeeding, appropriate complementary feeding, maternal nutrition and early identification of malnutrition.
The Kaduna State Head of Service, Jummai Bako, said repeated engagements on nutrition demonstrated the importance the state government attached to addressing malnutrition.
Bako urged the spouses of LGA chairmen to involve women councillors’ wives in nutrition advocacy, citing their close relationships with communities.
“We want to have zero malnutrition in Kaduna State,” Bako said, urging women leaders to work collectively towards achieving the goal.
Similarly, Jessy David, Chairman of the Kaduna State House of Assembly Committee on Food and Nutrition Security, described nutrition as fundamental to the growth and development of society.
David said the committee would continue to support legislation aimed at combating malnutrition and improving the wellbeing of women and children.
He urged stakeholders to take nutrition interventions from the state level to LGAs, wards and communities to strengthen grassroots participation.
The Commissioner for Youth Development, Gloria Ibrahim, described nutrition as the foundation for developing a strong, vibrant and intellectually capable youth population.
Ibrahim said her ministry was ready to collaborate with stakeholders, noting that adequate nutrition would strengthen the physical and mental capacity of future generations.
The UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Kaduna, Dr Gerida Birukila, reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to supporting government efforts to ensure equitable access to quality nutrition services.
Birukila, represented by UNICEF Nutrition Specialist in Kaduna, Chinwe Ezeife, said the engagement was important because direct community involvement could improve nutrition outcomes for children and women across the state.
Meanwhile, Celestina Ayim, Coordinator of Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) in Kaduna, said nutrition financing should go beyond financial resources to include people, skills, commodities, equipment, information and partnerships.
Ayim urged the spouses of LGA chairmen to mobilise communities, connect LGAs with development partners, amplify nutrition messages and monitor government commitments and resource utilisation.
She said nutrition should be treated as an investment in human capital development rather than charity, stressing that every child had the right to survive, learn and thrive.
Ayim also urged the women leaders to promote preventive measures through maternal nutrition, breastfeeding, growth monitoring, community mobilisation and behavioural change communication.
The Director of Nutrition Services, Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board, Ramatu Haruna, said the state had recorded progress in the treatment of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
Haruna said Kaduna had treated about 42,000 severely malnourished children with Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food procured with support from the state government.
She said 24,836 children were enrolled for treatment in the first quarter of 2026, with 15,000 successfully cured, while 17,400 children were enrolled in the second quarter.
According to her, 6,363 children were successfully cured during the second quarter, while the state currently has 8,655 cartons of therapeutic food in stock.
Haruna also called for greater attention to the nutritional needs of girls, noting that social preferences could sometimes result in boys receiving better food than girls.
The Chairman of the Kaduna State House of Assembly Committee on Appropriation, Shehu Yunusa, pledged support for stronger nutrition financing in the state’s 2027 budget.
Yunusa said the committee would ensure that nutrition-related budget lines were adequately captured to enable implementing agencies to deliver the required interventions.
He said a healthy state was a wealthy state, adding that the Assembly was committed to supporting resource mobilisation for improved nutrition outcomes.
The engagement brought together government officials, development partners, legislators and nutrition stakeholders to strengthen collective action towards tackling malnutrition in Kaduna State.
The event also featured the recognition and presentation of cash prizes to three outstanding spouses of LGA chairmen from Makarfi, Jaba and Soba for their contributions to nutrition interventions in their respective areas.
