First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, on Tuesday launched the South-West Zonal National Community Food Bank Programme in Ogun State, urging governments across the region to establish similar facilities as part of efforts to tackle food insecurity and malnutrition.
The programme, launched at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, is targeted at vulnerable Nigerians, particularly children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
The initiative forms part of the social investment component of the Renewed Hope Agenda and is designed to provide vulnerable households with regular access to safe and nutritious food. The Federal Government said the programme initially targets 500,000 vulnerable households nationwide in its first year.
Speaking at the event, Senator Tinubu urged South-West governors to replicate the initiative in their respective states and work with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency to ensure that the food banks are properly integrated into the primary healthcare system.
She said the programme was conceived as a deliberate and sustainable response to the challenges of hunger and malnutrition confronting vulnerable households.
According to her, the intervention should particularly protect children below six years, pregnant women and nursing mothers from the consequences of inadequate nutrition.
The First Lady also stressed the need for food banks to be located close to Primary Healthcare Centres, saying such proximity would make it easier for vulnerable families to access food and enable health workers to identify people who require nutritional support.
She explained that the food bank was different from a food hub, noting that the former was established specifically to provide free assistance to disadvantaged and vulnerable members of society.
Senator Tinubu said the Federal Government expected state governments to take ownership of the facilities and ensure their sustainability beyond the initial establishment.
The First Lady’s Ogun visit also featured the commissioning of the 108-unit Muhammadu Buhari Estate at Kobape, Abeokuta, and the Gateway Medical Centre of Excellence, a 250-bed ultra-modern hospital in Abeokuta.
She commended Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, for his administration’s investment in housing, healthcare and other sectors aimed at improving the welfare of residents.
In his remarks, Governor Abiodun said the launch of the food bank and commissioning of the projects reflected the shared commitment of the Federal and Ogun State governments to translating policies into tangible improvements in citizens’ lives.
He said the state’s Building Our Future Together agenda was anchored on creating an environment where residents could live with dignity, access essential services and pursue their legitimate aspirations.
According to the governor, development would lose its moral value if economic growth was achieved while citizens continued to struggle with their basic needs.
He said the impact of government should ultimately be measured by the lives transformed through its policies and projects.
“The hospitals become useful when they save lives; the houses fulfil their purpose when they shelter families,” Abiodun said.
The governor also backed the proposal to situate community food banks within Primary Healthcare Centres, saying such an arrangement would help government identify vulnerable households, children at risk of malnutrition, pregnant women and nursing mothers.
In his goodwill message, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said the programme was designed not only to provide food to vulnerable Nigerians but also to establish a sustainable connection between farmers and consumers.
Kyari said food security had become a central component of the Federal Government’s development agenda following President Bola Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency on food security.
He said the food bank initiative would strengthen agricultural production through structured procurement and distribution.
«“A food bank that hands out food solves a meal. A food bank tied to a farm solves a season,” the minister said.»
The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, described the programme as an important platform for addressing health problems associated with food insecurity.
He urged South-West governors to key into the initiative and expand it to ensure that vulnerable families, particularly children and women, have reliable access to nutritious food.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Muyi Aina, said the agency would collaborate with relevant stakeholders to strengthen food production and ensure the availability of nutritious food.
Aina said the programme targets pregnant women and children between six months and six years of age and would be domiciled within the country’s 13,500 Primary Healthcare Centres.
The Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Oba Michael Aremu Gbadebo, commended the First Lady for bringing the initiative to Ogun State, saying it had the potential to provide meaningful relief to vulnerable members of society.
The food bank programme commenced at Makun, Sagamu, where food items were distributed to vulnerable and indigent residents as part of the Federal Government’s social intervention efforts.
