In the Federal Government’s resolve to frontally address the problems of hunger and malnutrition in the country, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, has set up an ad-hoc Technical Advisory Group to support the implementation of the 5-year National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action on Nutrition (NMPAN).

The Vice President in statement by his Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, constituted the technical advisory group earlier in the week when he called a virtual meeting of the National Committee on Food and Nutrition, a week after the National Council on Nutrition adopted the Plan of Action.

Membership of the advisory group is drawn from the Office of the Vice President, Nigerian Governors Forum, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Nutrition Partners Forum, Organised Private sector, Academia/ Research, Scaling Up Nutrition Secretariat at the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH), Civil Society groups-and the UN-Nutrition.

Noting the mandate and composition of the team, Prof. Osinbajo said on Tuesday that “the technical advisory group will provide high-level strategic advice and support to the Secretariat of the National Council on Nutrition on the National Policy on Food and Nutrition’s vision and strategy, thereby facilitating nutrition positioning and comparative advantage to enable maximum impact.“

According to the Vice President, “for the next few months, this group composed of select members of the National Council on Nutrition who are heads of major MDAs and agencies will have the following Mandate:

“To provide technical assistance to the NCN and Secretariat, and facilitate inter and intra-agency coordination, supervision and monitoring, and implementation of the National Multi-sectoral Plan of Action on Nutrition.”

Continuing, Prof. Osinbajo noted that the assignment would be executed by, “developing a synthesised work plan for National Multisectoral Plan of Action on Nutrition; identifying and documenting the roles of each sector and MDA, as well as the relationship(s) between these roles and the achievement of nutrition outcomes, based on the NMPAN.”

He added that the group will “work with the newly constituted National Committee on Food and Nutrition to define and train the secretariat on the capacity needs for the development and implementation of nutrition programs and projects as defined by the NMPAN and; develop a comprehensive advocacy, information and education strategy for the NMPAN”

Stating the significance of the group’s assignment, Prof Osinbajo said “we need more than ever to think holistically if we are to solve the issues of malnutrition, in my opinion we have embarked on a new era, where collaboration and active engagement of stakeholders to assist with implementing the NMPAN is embedded in our agenda and should propel us forward.”

The National Council on Food and Nutrition chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, at its last meeting approved the action plan titled the “National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition (NMPFAN) 2021-2025” with a target of addressing nutrition and related problems across the country.