BY Jemilat Nasiru
Bamidele Omotola, a nutrition expert, says 25 million under-five children in Nigeria are wasting while 10 million children in the country are malnourished.
Omotola spoke at a media dialogue organised by child rights information bureau of the federal ministry of information and culture in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The World Bank had predicted that by 2021, Nigeria would take over from India as the world capital for the death of children below age five.
He expressed concern that millions of children are at risk of untimely death, adding that the situation requires urgent solution.
According to him, the death of any child in the country is a national disaster.
He also said 50 percent of children in 12 states in Nigeria are stunted as a result of malnutrition.
He likened child malnutrition to sentencing the victims to death for no crime.
Omotola said the greater part of affected children are in the north-east region, blaming the Boko Haram insurgency on the surge.
He warned that children with severe form of acute malnutrition have nine-fold risk of death compare to well nourished children.
He said one in five children with severe acute malnutrition cases would die if treatment is not provided at right time.
On his part, Geoffrey Njoku, UNICEF communication specialist, said the objective of the media dialogue was to present facts and figures to expose the current situation of malnutrition so that necessary steps can be taken to address the problem.
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