?In a major push to tackle child malnutrition and secure sustainable health financing, Vice President Kashim Shettima has announced that Nigeria is accelerating the passage of a National Food and Nutrition Bill to enforce long-term accountability across federal, state, and local governments.

Speaking on Wednesday during the Nigeria-Ethiopia Nutrition Leadership Exchange Forum in Addis Ababa, the Vice President detailed Nigeria’s National Policy on Food and Nutrition 2026–2035, which targets reducing national child stunting from 40 percent down to 25 percent by 2035.

He revealed that Nigeria’s $26 million commitment to the Child Nutrition Fund successfully unlocked a matching $52 million fund, bolstered by $6.3 million from 21 state governments since 2023.

The proposed legislation will anchor the nationwide "Nutrition 774 Initiative," empowering local government councils as primary units of planning, financing, and service delivery to mitigate an estimated $56 billion annual economic loss caused by undernutrition.

?The high-level Nigerian delegation—comprising state governors, federal ministers, and heads of national agencies—met with Ethiopian leadership to exchange strategies on multi-sectoral nutrition interventions, focusing on Ethiopia's "Seqota Declaration" framework.

Opening the forum, Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Tiruneh and Minister of Health Dr. Mekdes Daba highlighted that Ethiopia's targeted community interventions have already protected over 100,000 children from malnutrition, emphasizing that cross-ministry coordination during a child's first 1,000 days is vital for national economic productivity.

On the sidelines of the forum, Vice President Shettima and Deputy Prime Minister Tiruneh held bilateral talks to deepen trade, investment, aviation, food security, and regional security ties, committing to convene the Nigeria-Ethiopia Joint Commission and leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area to lead continental growth.