By: Joke Falaju, Abuja
A nutrition expert has called for the integration of adolescents into Nigeria’s National Policy on Food and Nutrition, which is currently under review.
Dr Patricia Ukegbu, Head of the Department of Human Nutrition and Dietetics at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, made the call during the presentation of a Policy Innovation Project titled “Integrating Gender-Responsive Adolescent Nutrition Considerations in the National Policy on Food and Nutrition in Nigeria.”
Ukegbu, a Policy Fellow of the Gender Responsive Agriculture Systems Policy (GRASP), an initiative of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), presented her paper at the first quarterly meeting of the National Food and Nutrition Committee (NFNC), organised by the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning in Karu, Nasarawa State.
In her presentation, she lamented the lack of gender-responsive policies, noting that the nutritional needs of adolescent girls aged 10 to 14 and boys aged 10 to 19 had been largely neglected. She observed that existing programmes for adolescents mainly focus on reproductive health, leaving broader nutritional needs unmet.
Ukegbu noted that although the policy recognises gender inequalities, it fails to outline specific measures to address them, particularly in areas such as food and nutrition security, healthcare access, education and awareness, resource allocation, social protection, and empowerment.
She also highlighted cultural perceptions that favour boys in household food distribution, based on the belief that males, seen as future heads of households and physically larger, require more food.
To overcome barriers to healthy food consumption, Ukegbu called on the government to improve parental welfare, lower the cost of food, provide free school meals, offer vocational training on nutritious diets, and implement nutrition education in schools.
She stressed the importance of incorporating age- and gender-specific nutrition indicators into the revised policy to effectively monitor and evaluate adolescent nutrition programmes. The policy, she said, should also challenge discriminatory social norms and include empowerment and social protection measures to address cultural practices that affect food access and decision-making.
Ukegbu further advocated for platforms that allow adolescents to participate in policy development, implementation, and evaluation to ensure that their specific nutritional challenges are addressed. She added that such inclusion would also strengthen adolescents’ capacity to adopt healthy dietary habits.
Dr Victor Ajieroh, a nutrition expert and mentor to Ukegbu under the AWARD initiative, supported the call, describing it as timely. He said including adolescents in the policy would enable Nigeria to harness the potential of its youthful population.
Ajieroh also recommended that the national School Feeding Programme be extended to secondary school students to ensure continuity and support the development of the future workforce.
Also speaking at the meeting, Professor Ngozi Nnam, a professor of community, public health and paediatric nutrition, emphasised the need to adopt a life-cycle approach to nutrition. While acknowledging the focus on the first 1,000 days of life, she argued that adequate nutrition must extend from childhood to adolescence and into old age.
The two-day meeting was attended by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, Dr Emeka Vitalis Obi; Director of Social Development, Dr Faniran Sanjo; Deputy Director of the Food and Nutrition Division, Mrs Clementina Okoro; as well as representatives from MDAs involved in nutrition activities, civil society groups, academia, non-governmental organisations, and development partners.
