The Federal Government has set a target to increase school-feeding coverage from 33 per cent to 60 per cent of primary school pupils by 2035.

Minister of Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa made the call at the Ethiopia–Nigeria Leadership Exchange on Moving the Needle on Nutrition in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during a session on Building the Multi-Sectoral Framework on Wednesday, October where he advocated for stronger school-based interventions to tackle child malnutrition across Nigeria.

Alausa noted that school feeding, health services, nutrition education and improved access to quality education must become central to the implementation of the Nutrition 774 Initiative, which seeks to translate national nutrition priorities into practical interventions across the country’s 774 local government areas.

In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications Ikharo Attah, he
stressed that tackling malnutrition requires coordinated action by the education, health, agriculture and planning sectors, backed by adequate funding, clear responsibilities and effective monitoring.

According to him, schools offer an important platform for improving children’s nutrition, health and development, while helping to address barriers to school attendance and retention.

The minister identified school feeding as one of the practical interventions through which the education sector could contribute to reducing malnutrition, noting that linking feeding programmes with school participation could encourage more children to enrol in and remain in school.

He also highlighted the integration of nutrition-related studies into Nigeria’s revised school curriculum, saying that equipping children with knowledge of healthy eating, wellbeing and healthy lifestyles would strengthen efforts to improve their overall development.

The Federal Ministry of Education’s proposed contribution to the initiative includes school feeding, school health services, nutrition education and measures to improve access to quality education. These interventions are expected to feature in local government multisectoral food and nutrition plans, with relevant education indicators proposed for inclusion in the initiative’s local government scorecard.

Alausa said the proposed scorecard would help strengthen accountability by tracking the education sector’s contribution to nutrition outcomes and determining whether interventions were reaching their intended beneficiaries.

He emphasised that national policies would produce meaningful results only when effectively implemented at state and local government levels, with clear targets and appropriate monitoring arrangements.

The minister also called for sustained investment in early childhood care and development beyond the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, stressing that nutritional, health and developmental needs remain critical throughout the wider period of early growth.

On data management, he said reliable and integrated government data were essential for identifying children and communities in need, improving intervention planning and measuring progress.

He noted that better coordination of data across relevant government institutions would enable authorities to target resources more effectively and assess the impact of nutrition programmes.

Alausa welcomed the opportunity to learn from Ethiopia’s experience in coordinating nutrition interventions and mobilising domestic resources, adding that lessons from the leadership exchange would need to be adapted to Nigeria’s circumstances.

He said sustained progress in reducing malnutrition would depend on stronger intergovernmental collaboration, appropriate financing and effective implementation across the relevant sectors.