The Federal Government is seeking to strengthen the role of schools in tackling child malnutrition, with Education Minister Dr Tunji Alausa identifying school feeding, school health services and nutrition education as key components of the Nutrition 774 Initiative.
Alausa made the call at the Ethiopia-Nigeria Leadership Exchange on Moving the Needle on Nutrition in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he urged stronger coordination among government ministries and across the federal, state and local government levels to improve nutrition outcomes.
Speaking during a session on developing a multi-sectoral framework, the minister said nutrition policies must translate into practical interventions that reach children and families in their communities.
He described education as an important part of the response, noting that children’s nutrition, health, learning and overall development are closely connected.
According to Alausa, school feeding offers a practical way to improve children’s nutritional intake while encouraging school attendance. He also highlighted the inclusion of nutrition-related topics in the revised school curriculum to help pupils understand healthy eating, personal well-being and healthy lifestyles.
The Education Ministry’s proposed contribution to Nutrition 774 will cover school feeding, school health, nutrition education and measures to improve access to quality education and school participation.
Alausa said these interventions would be incorporated into local government multi-sectoral food and nutrition plans, while education indicators would be added to the initiative’s local government scorecard to improve monitoring and accountability.
He said the approach aligns with the National Policy on Food and Nutrition, which targets an increase in school-feeding coverage from 33 per cent to 60 per cent of primary school pupils by 2035.
The minister also called for greater attention to early childhood care and development beyond the first 1,000 days of life, stressing that children continue to require adequate nutrition, healthcare and developmental support as they grow.
He identified reliable, integrated data as essential to the initiative, saying information held by government agencies could help identify vulnerable children and communities, improve planning and assess whether programmes were reaching those most in need.
Alausa further stressed that national policies would only deliver results if states and local governments backed them with clear targets, funding arrangements and monitoring systems.
He said Nigeria could learn from Ethiopia’s experience in coordinating nutrition programmes and mobilising domestic resources, while adapting relevant lessons to the country’s own circumstances.
The minister reaffirmed the Education Ministry’s commitment to working with other ministries, state governments, local authorities and development partners to expand education-related interventions under Nutrition 774.
“Improving children’s nutrition and access to quality education is essential to building a healthier, better-educated and more productive population,” he said.
The initiative places schools within a broader, cross-sector response to malnutrition, linking children’s access to food and health support with school participation, learning and early development.
