United Nations Children’s Fund ( UNICEF) partners Enugu state to domesticates Food and Nutrition policy.
The Chief of UNICEF field office Enugu, Ibrahim Conteh has appealed to all the state governments to domesticate the 2016, national policy on Food and Nutrition for its important to the growth and development of the nation.
Conteh stated this at a workshop in Enugu, organised by the Enugu state Ministry of budget and planning supported by UNICEF for the domestication of the state food and Nutrition.
He said that UNICEF, as one of UN agencies has the mandate to ensure that every child realizes his or her right to nutrition and in all sections to ensure that the child grow up to be a heathy child and contributes meaningfully to the growth of the society.
“our interest in nutrition is extremely important because if a child is not brought up in a very good nutrition way , you can be sure that the cognitive capacity of the child will be undermine and therefore every other organ of the child will not grow well including the mental capacity. It is extremely important for a child to have very good nutrition as they are growing up so that every part of their body grows perfectly well”.
The chief of Enugu field office noted that UNICEF acknowledged Nutrition as a very big challenge in the nation that leads to malnutrition and stunted growth and promised that his organization would continue to support the government to ensure that every child get maximum Nutrition in the state.
“Under our Field office about three States have already domesticated and we are working with every state to make sure that the policy is domesticated so that the target for nutrition can be met” conteh stated.
He said that UNICEF is working in all over the country with offices in PH covering four states, Enugu covering 8 states while other offices are located in Sokoto Bauchi, Lagos and Akure so we are working in all the states. .
The wife of Enugu state governor Monica Ugwuanyi who declared the workshop open commended the efforts of UNICEF in the state and the zeal it has in supporting all the programs that has to do with the development of women and children in the state.
She also Commended the state government for inaugurating Enugu state committee for food and nutrition who’s aim and objective is to domesticate the national policy on food and nutrition and the national strategic plan of action for nutrition in Enugu state.
She however called on the members of the committee to put in their best to achieve its objective as quickly as possible and not to wait for 2024. “we are not waiting for 2024.we are not hear for joke but for serious business”. She said.
