By Gift ChapiOdekina, Abuja
ABUJA — The House of Representatives has called for stronger food safety laws and enforcement mechanisms to address malnutrition, food insecurity and the health risks associated with unsafe food and the indiscriminate use of agricultural chemicals in Nigeria.
The House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security said existing policies had not adequately addressed the challenges, stressing the need for enforceable legislation to guarantee access to safe, nutritious and affordable food.
The committee’s position was contained in a speech delivered by its Clerk, Agenti Milicent, on behalf of its chairman, Chike Okafor, at a World Food Day media briefing in Abuja on Friday.
The event was organised by the Centre for Food Safety and Agriculture Research in conjunction with LoveWorld Ministry of Food Technology and Sovereignty.
According to the committee, Nigeria continues to grapple with malnutrition, stunting, wasting and anaemia, alongside poor exclusive breastfeeding practices.
“We have many policies, but few enforceable laws,” the chairman said, calling for legislative action to address the country’s food and nutrition challenges.
He added that legislative measures were needed to ensure that every Nigerian, from unborn children to farmers and other citizens, had access to safe, nutritious and affordable food.
The committee also warned that unsafe food production and the indiscriminate use of chemicals could worsen public health problems, including kidney and liver diseases.
It called for legislation to protect local food systems, ensure the effective utilisation of nutrition funds and shield children from aggressive marketing of unhealthy foods.
Okafor said the committee was working on legislative measures, including a bill to establish the Nutritionist Registration Council of Nigeria to regulate the nutrition profession.
He also disclosed that the committee was involved in efforts to advance a National Nutrition Bill sponsored by the Presidency through the Office of the Vice-President, which he said had reached an advanced stage ahead of its transmission to the National Assembly.
On its achievements, the committee said it had facilitated the establishment of nutrition and food security committees in 32 state Houses of Assembly following a legislative retreat in Owerri, Imo State.
The committees subsequently formed the National Legislative Network of Nutrition and Food Security, which was inaugurated by the Speaker of the House of Representatives on July 22, 2024.
The committee further disclosed that it was investigating the alleged misuse of government agricultural intervention funds by agencies, schemes and programmes operating outside the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.
The investigation also covers concerns surrounding agricultural interventions and issues associated with ginger blight disease, which devastated production in parts of the country.
Okafor said the committee had engaged the Central Bank of Nigeria, the National Agricultural Development Board and other relevant agencies as part of the investigation.
He called for collaboration among federal and state legislatures, civil society organisations, development partners and other stakeholders to tackle food insecurity.
“Malnutrition and food insecurity remain a constant threat to socio-economic development in Nigeria, as much as they have become an existential threat,” he said.
He added that worsening inflation had increased the burden on ordinary Nigerians, arguing that the country’s arable land, water resources and human capital should enable it to tackle hunger and malnutrition through coordinated action.
Ginger production crisis
Speaking at the event, a food safety advocate, Dr. Shego, raised concerns about the decline in Nigeria’s ginger production, alleging that contaminated agricultural inputs contributed to a devastating outbreak of ginger blight disease that destroyed farmers’ harvests.
He recalled that Nigeria was previously among the world’s leading ginger exporters but suffered severe production losses that increased its reliance on imported ginger.
According to him, farmers who used certain agricultural inputs supplied under intervention programmes began noticing black spots, blight and softening in their crops before harvest.
He said the resulting losses caused the price of a bag of ginger to rise from about ₦25,000 to approximately ₦800,000.
The advocate called for a thorough examination of agricultural intervention programmes and the chemicals used in food production, warning that poorly regulated inputs could undermine food security and public health.
He also advocated a shift towards organic farming and the use of natural seeds, urging Nigerians, where practical, to consider planting edible crops rather than ornamental plants.
“Food safety concerns everyone, regardless of their religious affiliations or background,” he said, stressing the need to prioritise safe food production.
Stakeholders advocate sustainable farming
Other participants urged farmers, investors, processors and distributors to work together to promote safe food production and strengthen Nigeria’s agricultural value chain.
The founder of Benjamin Protocol Incorporated, Nwaoloko Ifeanyi, said his organisation had ventured into ginger farming as part of its commerce and investment activities.
He described food safety as essential to sustainable agricultural production, saying, “Safety first before harvest. You can’t get harvest from what you do not preserve.”
Ifeanyi said the organisation supported farming approaches that gave farmers greater control over their planting materials, including regenerative seeds that could be replanted after harvest.
He called for collaboration among farmers, researchers, investors, entrepreneurs, processors and distributors to build a food system that protects consumers and creates economic opportunities.
Similarly, Lucas Samu of Lufris Global Enterprise said his organisation was working with the initiative to promote safe agricultural production, food processing and packaging.
“The best medicine you consume is your food,” he said, urging Nigerians to pay greater attention to the quality and composition of what they eat.
Samu added that food processing and packaging must be properly managed to ensure products reaching consumers were safe.
Another participant, agricultural commodity sourcing and processing expert Ella Omezi, said the initiative was committed to providing farmers with organic seeds to support the production of organic raw materials for food processing and export.
She said the programme was designed to encourage Nigerians across religious, economic and regional backgrounds to participate in food production.
Participants said the “Let’s Go Planting” initiative was intended not only to encourage household and commercial farming but also to attract investment into agriculture, food processing and other segments of the food value chain.
The event commemorated the 2026 World Food Day, themed “Innovate Today, Nourish Tomorrow.”
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