Nigeria’s 36 state governors have declared a nationwide nutrition emergency and resolved to establish a National Nutrition Intervention Fund to accelerate efforts to tackle malnutrition across the country’s 774 local government areas.
The commitment was announced by Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, while presenting the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Addis Ababa Commitment on Nutrition at the Nigeria Country Session.
The declaration followed a three-day Nigeria-Ethiopia Nutrition Leadership Exchange, during which a Nigerian delegation led by Vice President Kashim Shettima examined Ethiopia’s approach to nutrition delivery, particularly its Seqota Declaration, as a model for strengthening Nigeria’s response to malnutrition.
At the session, themed *“From Lessons to Commitment: Accelerating Implementation of the Nutrition 774 Initiative,”* the governors pledged to strengthen domestic funding, improve accountability at the grassroots and adopt a unified framework for nutrition planning and budgeting.
Speaking on behalf of the NGF, Lawal said the exchange reinforced the importance of sustained political leadership, coordination across government sectors, predictable financing and the use of reliable data to measure progress.
He noted that Nigeria’s Nutrition 774 Initiative already reflected several principles adopted in Ethiopia but said the lessons from the exchange would help strengthen implementation and deliver measurable improvements.
“We are encouraged that Nigeria’s N774 Initiative already embodies many of the principles we have seen here in Ethiopia. This leadership exchange has, however, provided important practical lessons on how these principles can be further strengthened and translated into results,” Lawal said.
The governors identified unified planning and budgeting, stronger intersectoral coordination, community-driven planning and performance monitoring as critical components of an effective national nutrition strategy.
They also highlighted matching funding between the Federal Government and state governments as a mechanism for aligning priorities, encouraging greater investment by subnational governments and strengthening shared responsibility for results.
Lawal recalled that the Federal Government, states and local governments signed the Nutrition Compact on February 20, 2025, in the presence of Vice President Shettima.
The compact was signed by the NGF chairman on behalf of the 36 states, the president of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria on behalf of the 774 local governments, and the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning on behalf of the Federal Government.
According to Lawal, the latest commitment is intended to reinforce that agreement by adapting lessons from Ethiopia to Nigeria’s circumstances and translating them into practical action across the three tiers of government.
Under the new commitments, the governors resolved to establish a National Nutrition Intervention Fund to catalyse implementation of the compact and institutionalise the principle of **“One Goal, One Plan and One Budget”** for nutrition programmes.
The proposed fund is expected to encourage stronger state leadership, increase domestic investment, reward effective implementation and support measurable improvements in nutrition outcomes.
The governors also pledged to strengthen bottom-up planning by ensuring that nutrition needs identified at community and ward levels are incorporated into local government, state and national development plans.
They further committed to extending the National Nutrition Scorecard beyond the state level to cover local governments and wards, allowing performance and accountability to be assessed closer to the communities where nutrition interventions are delivered.
The NGF also resolved to institutionalise the use of data in decision-making and performance management, including state-specific surveys and assessments to guide planning, resource allocation and corrective action.
**Funding and implementation remain the critical tests**
While the declaration signals renewed political commitment to tackling malnutrition, the impact of the initiative will depend on how quickly the proposed fund is established, how it is financed and how transparently the resources are managed.
The commitment also raises questions about the funding formula, the criteria for allocating resources to states and local governments, and the mechanisms for tracking expenditure and measuring results.
For communities facing malnutrition, the ultimate test will be whether the declaration translates into improved access to nutritious food, maternal and child nutrition services, adequate healthcare and other interventions needed to prevent malnutrition.
The proposed expansion of the Nutrition Scorecard to ward and local government levels could strengthen oversight, provided the indicators are reliable, the results are published regularly and underperforming authorities are held accountable.
By drawing lessons from Ethiopia’s experience, the governors have signalled their intention to move beyond policy declarations towards a more coordinated national response. The challenge now is to turn the commitment into sustained financing, effective implementation and measurable improvements in the nutritional wellbeing of Nigerians.
**The Press Nigeria — Accountability. Development. Public Interest.**
