By Monday Ocheja
Continued rising costs of food and related ingredients in Nigeria have hindered many families meeting the required balance diet.
These foods are grouped into carbohydrates, vitamins, protein, and fats, among others.
According to experts, it is important for individuals to eat variety of foods, including fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and grains, in order to get all the nutrients needed by the body to grow and be healthy.
No doubt, children fall into groups of individuals that should consume important categories of food for growth and development.
Foods like beans, meat, egg, or fish which are classified as important to the development of the child are common, but unaffordable.
Ms Murna Monday, a civil servant in Kaduna, North West Nigeria, says a measure of local beans that was N250 as at January 2021, now costs about N750 on average. “How can I meet up feeding my 3 kids with the required diet that’s needed for a child’s daily nutritional consumption, as always suggest by experts.
“I am sure you know what it means for a low-income earner to give their children the required nutritional meal that will aid their growth. Most of the foods we give are carbohydrates which do not contain proteins.
“Even at that, the price of these grains is also on the rise. The price of maize, corn, millet that were likely to drop drastically at this period are still on the high side”, She laments.
Our investigation shows that in Eti-ega market, by the Niger river bank, Idah local government area of Kogi state, villagers who used to buy fish as part of their daily consumption, can no longer afford it due to high cost.
A Community leader in Kogi State, Chief Abdul Egene, says apart from the rise, the feeding process would definitely affect children, especially those in the villages because most people don’t know what balance diet is all about, as people eat whatever is available in their homes.
“Now, tell me, how can the child eat proper diet, when their parents don’t even know what these classes of food are. On our own, we do educate some of our relatives and associates, the gains of eating balance diet”.
School feeding
Experiences like this may have led the country to join the ranks of nations with highest number of childhood malnutrition, affecting more than 42% of school children in the country. It may also be responsible for about 49% absenteeism of primary school age children.
Recent statistics by United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) estimates that about 2.5 million Nigerian children under the age of 5 years suffer from severe malnutrition each year, with a great proportion of them dying from it.
To address this, Nigerian government introduced the school feeding programme which targets 24 million children.
In Kaduna for instance, when the programme began, it exponentially increased the number of pupils enrolled in primary school. Of specific reference, is that of Rigasa where the number of pupils went up to 20,000 from about 2,000 simply because of the school feeding programme. Majority of them went to the school because of meal.
Teachers told journalists that many of the pupils came to school “with plates for eating food, but no exercise books for learning.”
Nigeria’s school feeding programme is part of the country’s social investment programme meant to address poverty, poor health indices, poor education outcomes and other vulnerable groups.
Available statistics show that currently, over 9 million pupils from over 54,000 schools are benefiting from the scheme.
By design of the school feeding programme, the federal Government would provide meal to primary 1- 3 pupils, while interested state Governments take up primary 4-6.
Experts View
A public affairs analyst based in Jos, North Central Nigeria, Bosco Mairiga, says Nigerian government ought to do more in educating and providing better feeding to children of school age, through a better and reliable school feeding program.
“NGOs, community leaders need to step up campaign on good diet consumption, this would aid the children to gain and thereby develop their learning ability in school and in our rural communities,” he said.
Also speaking, an expert on Food Security in Nigeria, Dr. Yila Umaru, says people eat food in order to maintain the body system, adding that most deaths in children are hunger related, or due to lack of proper balance diet in most homes.
“Shortage in supply of the needed food, or insufficient nutrients in food affects child which is contributing to slow learning in school.
“You see, the most vulnerable group are the children, lack of balance diet and other minerals, leads to malnutrition and other illness.
“So, parents have to do more, because the most dangerous days, is the first 1000 days in the life of child, this is from the first day of conception,” he said.
