The Federal Government plans to draw on Ethiopia’s efforts to tackle malnutrition as the country strengthens a national nutrition programme, Vice President Kashim Shettima said Friday.
Vice President Shettima said coordination among the Federal, States, and Local Governments remains at the centre of the drive.
Shettima, who returned from a three-day leadership exchange in Ethiopia, said lessons from the visit would be adapted to Nigeria’s needs under the Nutrition 774 Initiative.
The priority, he said, is to translate those lessons into better outcomes for households, particularly women and children.
The exchange, held in Addis Ababa and Oromia under the theme “Moving the Needle on Nutrition,” brought Nigerian governors, ministers and public-health officials together to examine how Ethiopia connects agricultural production, food systems and early childhood services with its nutrition goals.
Senior Special Assistant in Media and Communication to the Vice President Stanley Nkwocha in a statement said the opening session, Shettima identified Ethiopia’s Seqota Declaration and Nigeria’s Nutrition 774 Initiative as platforms for sharing African-led approaches to malnutrition.
He said Nigeria was working to strengthen nutrition financing, accountability and implementation at the state and local levels, describing better nutrition as essential to human capital development, productivity and economic growth.
The visit moved beyond policy discussions to examine delivery on the ground. In Oromia, the Nigerian delegation toured wheat, banana and papaya farms, visited the “Bounty of the Basket” Training Centre and met households in Mojo.
The engagements focused on how agricultural value chains can support better diets and livelihoods.
The delegation also visited the Ethiopian Artificial Intelligence Institute for briefings on the use of technology and data in development and public-service delivery.
The final day focused on early childhood development, including pre-primary education, healthcare, daycare and parental coaching.
A subsequent working session examined how the Ethiopian experience could be translated into commitments under Nigeria’s nutrition initiative.
The central challenge, Shettima said, would be ensuring that the exchange produces measurable improvements for Nigerian families rather than ending with the visit.
Alongside the nutrition programme, Shettima met Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Tiruneh to discuss cooperation in agriculture, trade, investment, food security and aviation. Both leaders attended the closing ceremony, where the two countries reaffirmed their commitment to continued cooperation and knowledge sharing.
Nigeria’s delegation included Governors Umar Namadi of Jigawa, Dauda Lawal of Zamfara, Ademola Adeleke of Osun and Alex Otti of Abia.
The Ministers of health, agriculture, budget and economic planning, education, and water resources also participated.
Other delegates included senior officials from the National Emergency Management Agency and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the leadership of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, presidential nutrition officials, and representatives of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and the Nutrition Technical Team.
