The House of Representatives has invited stakeholders to a national food security summit scheduled to be held from July 8 to 10.
The summit, themed ‘Curbing malnutrition and food insecurity through effective synergies,’ will be held in Abuja.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, Chike Okafor, chairman of the house committee on nutrition and food security, said the summit is part of the activities scheduled for the green chamber’s open week.
Okafor said Nigeria continues to grapple with “alarming rates of malnutrition and food insecurity” despite decades of national policies and sectoral programmes aimed at improving nutrition and food systems.
He said children under the age of five, pregnant women and nursing mothers, and vulnerable populations in rural areas bear the brunt of the crisis.
The lawmaker said the situation is exacerbated by factors such as climate change and environmental degradation, persistent insecurity across food-producing regions, high inflation and cost of living, inadequate infrastructure for food storage, processing, and distribution, and low public investment in nutrition-sensitive and nutrition-specific interventions.
Okafor said the summit would serve as a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder engagement platform to bring together relevant actors from the executive and legislative branches across federal, state, and local levels, as well as key development partners and the private sector.
The objective of the summit, he noted, is to harmonise legislative, policy, and programmatic responses to nutrition and food security challenges across all tiers of government.
He added that the event also seeks to examine innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms for nutrition, including public-private partnerships (PPP), and formulate strategies for building resilient and inclusive food systems, particularly in the face of climate shocks, economic disruptions, and insecurity.
He said the event will also strengthen parliamentary oversight and accountability frameworks for implementing nutrition-related programmes and budgets and align development partner interventions with national legislative priorities, ensuring coordinated and impactful support.
“The summit is not intended to be a ceremonial event, but a catalyst for decisive and coordinated action,” Okafor said.
The lawmaker said the summit is expected to strengthen legislative frameworks for nutrition and food security at the federal and state levels, among others.
