First Lady Oluremi Tinubu has described Nigeria’s health sector leadership as one of the best, expressing confidence in the country’s capacity to tackle hunger and child malnutrition through strategic partnerships and effective deployment of resources.

She spoke on Monday when she received a delegation of the US-based Operation End Starvation initiative, which is seeking to partner with the Federal Government to combat hunger and prevent child deaths caused by severe malnutrition.

The delegation was led by the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, who said the proposed collaboration would strengthen existing government interventions aimed at reducing malnutrition, particularly among children, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

Pate said Nigeria was making progress through established policy frameworks, highlighting the National Community Food Bank Programme, implemented in partnership with the Office of the First Lady, which he said was already making a positive impact across the country’s six geopolitical zones.

He disclosed that the government was working to reduce the estimated 6.4 million cases of acute child malnutrition in Nigeria, while expanding support for vulnerable mothers and children.

“A lot of good things are already happening in the country,” the minister said, expressing optimism that collaboration with international partners would accelerate ongoing efforts.

Explaining the rationale for the proposed partnership, Chief Executive Officer of Operation End Starvation, Williams Holdsworth Moore, said the initiative, supported by a major grant from the United States government and contributions from global philanthropists, seeks to mobilise more than $1 billion annually to prevent child deaths associated with starvation.

He said the organisation was impressed by Nigeria’s commitment to addressing acute malnutrition and considered the country a priority partner for its intervention across sub-Saharan Africa.
“We want to move $1 billion to end starvation in the next two years across sub-Saharan Africa. The burden is high, but the capacity is also very high,” Moore said.

He added that the US State Department had approved Nigeria’s inclusion in the initiative’s focus, noting that consultations with Nigerian health officials had reinforced the organisation’s confidence in the country’s institutional capacity.

“We have met with the Nigerian health team, and they are one of the best of the many we have met,” he said.

The First Lady welcomed the proposed collaboration, saying the quality of expertise, commitment and dedication demonstrated by Nigerian professionals extended beyond the health sector to other areas of national development.

“It’s been a delight working with Prof. Pate, Dr Muyi and others. I also work with the Ministry of Education and others. The manpower we have now in the ministries is so wonderful,” she said.

Tinubu said President Bola Tinubu’s administration was undertaking the reforms needed to reposition the country, expressing optimism that Nigeria was gradually moving towards its desired level of development.

According to her, investments in the country’s health and social welfare systems would ultimately benefit Nigerians if public institutions functioned effectively.

“Nigeria deserves better, and there is nothing we give to her that is too much because if the system works, it will ultimately come back to us,” she said.

The First Lady assured the delegation that any assistance provided through the proposed partnership would be judiciously utilised by the country’s health team.

“I assure you that whatever aid you give us, this health team would put it to good use,” she added.

Operation End Starvation, an initiative of the Eleanor Crook Foundation, aims to make Nigeria a primary focus of its efforts to demonstrate how large-scale investments, delivered through direct government partnerships, can reduce child malnutrition and prevent deaths from starvation within the next two years.

The initiative operates as a public-private partnership nonprofit focused on tackling child malnutrition and starvation-related deaths across sub-Saharan Africa.