BY Jemilat Nasiru
Adeyeye Ogunwusi, the ooni of Ife, has partnered with Empower 54, a non-profit organisation, to curb malnutrition in Africa.
Empower 54 is a US organisation which provides humanitarian assistance through health, education, empowerment, and internally displaced persons (IDP)/refugee programmes to underprivileged Africans.
Modupe Ozolua, founder of Empower 54, said the declaration on “one-third, 33% of Nigerian children under 5 years old suffer from chronic malnutrition” is very disturbing.
She said many innocent lives had been lost due to lack of sensitisation on early management of malnutrition and accessibility to free treatment.
“After Empower 54 evacuated the severely malnourished IDP children from Bama to Maiduguri on June 13th and 15th 2016, we realized more has to be done to save children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) beyond evacuating them from high risk zones for treatment,” she said.
Ozuola
“There are countless non-IDP children suffering from SAM all over Nigeria and other parts of Africa that also need help.
“Due to His Imperial Majesty’s dedication to humanity, it’s with great honor that he has agreed to lend his voice and passion to the campaign to eradicate malnutrition in Africa, starting in the countries Princess Ozolua further states: “Empower 54 currently work in; Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
On his part, Ogunwusi said the fight against malnutrition must be tenacious, pledging his commitment to bringing malnutrition to an end.
“The menace of malnutrition is creeping deeper into the fabric of our society and we must be tenacious in our fight against this colossal beast by creating a better mechanism; adopt policies and strategies that are capable of combating its rapid expansion,” Ogunwusi said.
“Africa is the wealth of the world with huge human and natural resources and we must form a consensus that would scale up nutrition projects for the greater developments of future leaders that are being crippled daily by our collective negligence.
“As the co-chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN), we require holistic and systematic global blended approach in addressing the shade of malnutrition in Africa.
“I recognise and applaud months of intervention of Empower 54 in subjugating the spread of malnutrition in Nigeria and across Africa.
“Therefore, in an effort to forge greater participation, it is my sheer commitment and other global partners to advocate alongside the long-term collective aspirations of Empower 54 in championing malnutrition extinction roadmap in Africa.”
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