By Ngozi Nwankwo
Minister of Education, Dr Maruf Tunji Alausa, has said school feeding, school health, nutrition education and improved access to quality education are key components of the Federal Government’s Nutrition 774 initiative.
Alausa spoke on Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the Ethiopia-Nigeria Leadership Exchange on Moving the Needle on Nutrition, during a session on Building the Multi-Sectoral Framework.
He called for stronger collaboration among ministries and across federal, state and local governments to ensure nutrition interventions reach children and families at community level.
The minister said tackling malnutrition requires coordinated action across education, health, agriculture and planning sectors, with clear responsibilities, adequate financing and effective monitoring.
He said the Nutrition 774 initiative provides an opportunity to translate national nutrition priorities into practical interventions across the 774 local government areas, targeting children, families and communities most in need.
According to him, education is central to the effort because children’s nutrition, health, learning and development are closely linked.
He identified school feeding as a practical way the education sector can improve nutrition while encouraging school attendance, noting that linking feeding to participation can help address barriers that keep children out of school.
Alausa also said the integration of nutrition-related studies into Nigeria’s revised school curriculum will equip children with knowledge on healthy eating and lifestyles.
He said the Federal Ministry of Education’s proposed contribution to Nutrition 774 includes school feeding, school health, nutrition education and measures to strengthen access to quality education and participation.
According to him, the interventions are expected to form part of local government multisectoral action plans on food and nutrition, with education indicators included in the initiative’s local government scorecard.
The minister stressed the importance of ensuring all children have access to adequate nutrition and quality education, adding that keeping children in school and improving learning quality can contribute to better health and nutrition outcomes.
He said the ministry’s proposals align with the National Policy on Food and Nutrition, which aims to increase school-feeding coverage from 33 per cent to 60 per cent of primary school children by 2035.
Alausa called for greater attention to early childhood care beyond the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, noting that nutritional and developmental needs remain critical during the wider early growth period.
