A group, Civil Society -Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN) has called on Oyo state government to as a matter of urgency release the budget meant for nutrition in the state.
The group made this known during an advocacy meeting with stakeholders in Ibadan, the state capital christened, an advocacy brief on nutrition situation in Oyo State were stakeholders such as nutritionists, community mobilisers, and government officials among others.
Adio Olusegun, chairman of CS-SUNN in the state, at the event, explained that if prompt action is not taken on the issue of nutrition it can lead to malnutrition which could lead to inter generational problem for the state.
Adio pleaded with the present government in Oyo State to stand up to the situation in order to positively salvage the nutrition crisis in the state in order to have a healthy society.
While advising the state government to increase investment in nutrition specifically seek government’s interventions in order to reduce the alarming statistics of infant and under five mortality in the state.
He added that the purpose of the meeting was to encourage the present administration in the state to look into prompt and timely release of funds budgeted for nutrition in order to boost development in the state.
Ambrose Evhoesor, a nutritionist while speaking, maintained that Oyo state remains one of the states in the country with a huge malnutrition situation at hand.
He disclosed that a recent multiple indicator cluster survey on nutrition indicates that 34.5 percent of children under five in the Oyo state are stunted, 3.8 percent wasted, while 19.1percent are underweight, even with the marginal increase in budgetary allocation for nutrition in recent time .
REMI FEYISIPO,Ibadan.
