‎Across Nigeria today, the loudest noise in politics is silence: the silence that greets the cries of millions of hungry children. In every village clinic and urban slum, the future is shrinking before our very eyes. Children, who should be the promise of tomorrow, are being starved into stunted shadows of what they could have been.

‎According to the World Health Organization, 37 percent of Nigerian children are stunted, their growth permanently impaired by chronic malnutrition.

‎Another 22 percent are underweight, while nearly two million endure severe acute malnutrition, a life-threatening condition that demands urgent care.

‎In Katsina State alone, at least 652 children died of malnutrition in just the first half of 2025, reportedly. These numbers are not just statistics; they are gravestones for a nation’s conscience.

‎A NATION OF GIANTS AND STUNTED CHILDREN

‎It is a bitter irony that Nigeria, often styled as the “giant of Africa,” has produced leaders with giant appetites while leaving its children stunted. Our Constitution is unambiguous: Section 33 guarantees the right to life; Section 16 obliges the state to provide adequate food; and Section 17 directs government to ensure health and welfare for all citizens. Yet in practice, these noble promises have been reduced to decorative prose for law textbooks.

‎The National Health Act of 2014, with its Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, was designed to secure primary health services, especially for vulnerable groups. But in most rural communities, malnutrition clinics are closing, therapeutic foods are disappearing, and mothers leave health centres with nothing but despair.

‎Similarly, the Child Rights Act of 2003, which elevates the “best interests of the child” as paramount, has been trampled underfoot by policy inertia and neglect.

‎THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S N-774 INITIATIVE: A PROMISE OR A POLITICAL GIMMICK?

‎Against this backdrop, the Federal Government recently unveiled the Nutrition-774 (N-774) Initiative, a nationwide intervention that aims to tackle malnutrition across all 774 local government areas.

‎On paper, it is a commendable effort: a recognition that hunger is not merely a humanitarian problem but a national security threat.

‎The policy rightly frames malnutrition as a multi-sectoral issue linked to poverty, insecurity, unemployment, and weak governance.

‎It echoes Section 17(3)(d) of the Constitution, which mandates adequate medical and health facilities for all citizens, and aligns with Nigeria’s obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC).

‎Yet, Nigerians have learned the hard way that good policies often die on the altar of bad politics. Implementation, not announcement, will be the true test.

‎Abia State, under Governor Alex Otti, has already adopted the N-774 framework, pledging significant resources to health and education. While commendable, we can only pray this does not end up as another political gimmick: another photo opportunity dressed up as reform.

‎FEEDING ELITES, STARVING THE FUTURE

‎For decades, Nigerian leaders have perfected the ritual of launching grand programmes while failing to sustain them.

‎Our history is littered with abandoned blueprints, ribbon cuttings, and empty promises. If the N-774 must not go the same way, it requires more than rhetoric. It must be given legal backing through enabling legislation or an Executive Order, transparent funding monitored under the Freedom of Information Act, and independent civil society oversight to prevent capture by patronage networks.

‎Failure to do so would render the N-774 yet another entry in the long register of policies that looked good on paper but failed the hungry child in the village.

‎A CALL TO CONSCIENCE

‎Every malnourished child is a broken constitutional promise; every death is a silent impeachment of the state. The N-774 initiative must not be reduced to political theatre. It must be a binding social contract.

‎Nigeria must declare a National Nutrition Emergency, activate the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, and ensure the N-774 serves the children it was designed for, not the political elites who would exploit it for applause.

‎Justice delayed is justice denied. For Nigeria’s malnourished children, delay is not just denial, it is death.

‎“And let it be said plainly: a government that feeds politicians while starving children is not leading a nation. It is hosting a banquet on the bones of its future.”

‎Okoye, Chuka Peter, Human Rights Advocate writes this piece

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