Cross River State Governor Sen. Bassey Edet Otu, has said that his government is poised to scale up food and nutrition interventions.
Also, he said that would be through the provision of matching fund of N100 million for food and nutrition interventions in the state.
The governor made the promise through his Deputy Rt. Hon. Peter Odey at the launch of the Cross River State Strategic Plan of Action on Food and Nutrition held in Calabar.
Chief Press Secretary to the Deputy Governor Fred Abua Esq, made this available to Truth Live News in a social media post on Thursday April 18, 2024.
Accounting to him, the strategic plan aims to achieve food and nutrition security through investment in agriculture.
Other aims include increase food production, availability, accessibility and affordability.
With a gut feeling of having made a good decision the Governor stated this:
“Measures will be taken to improve food harvesting, processing and preservation to reduce post harvest losses.”
“It will also include school-based strategies to reduce malnutrition among school age children and improve their learning, health and nutrition status.”
Additionally, “the state planning commission where I am chairman, will drive this process of coordination as stipulated by the state policy being launched today.”
“We are determined to change the statistics we met on ground in other to meet our proposed target by 2027.”
Therefore, “my government is poised to scale up food and nutrition interventions in Cross River State.
“Through the provision of matching fund of One Hundred Million Naira (100,000.000) for food and nutrition interventions in the state.”
Afterward, he commended UNICEF, relevant MDAs, the organized private sector and other non-state actors for their contributions.
Meanwhile , the Vice-chairman of the State Planning Commission, Dr. Bong Duke, has expressed optimism that through the plan Cross River will have the healthiest people not just in Nigeria, but in Africa.
According to him, “we are using a multisectoral approach to fight malnutrition in the state.”
Moreover, “the Ministry of Agriculture will make sure that our cassava is fortified.”
“Therefore, school feeding program will be used to ensure that the nutrition status of children improve”.
Also, Dr. Olusoji Akinleye, Officer-in- charge,UNICEF Nigeria, Enugu Field Office, has congratulated the government for charting a pathway to address nutrition issues.
She said UNICEF is committed to collaborate with Cross River State Government to improve the lives of children and women in the state.
The event drew dignitaries including Commissioners and Permanent secretaries from relevant MDAs, Permanent Secretaries from Benue and Enugu States.
Also, participating were, Development Partners such as the WHO, UNFPA, NI, CS-SUNN, GAIN, SELF HELP AFRICA and Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Cross River State Chapter.