TInubu’s Wife Launches South-South Food Bank, Targets 6 States

By Ene Asuquo, Calabar

The Wife of the President, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has launched the South-South phase of the National Community Food Bank Programme in Calabar, Cross River State.

She called on governors to establish food banks in all senatorial districts to combat hunger and malnutrition among vulnerable Nigerians.

The programme, launched on Friday, targets children below six years and pregnant women with nutritious food to support healthy growth and development. It covers Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo and Rivers states.

The launch is the fifth zonal phase of the Federal Government’s National Community Food Bank Programme, which is being championed by the First Lady as part of efforts to address food insecurity and malnutrition across the country.

Speaking at the event, Mrs Tinubu said three community food banks were being launched simultaneously across Cross River State’s Southern, Central and Northern senatorial districts.

She described the initiative as a deliberate and sustainable response to food insecurity and malnutrition among vulnerable households,

Mrs Tinubu added that it aligned with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, particularly in the areas of food security, healthcare and citizens’ welfare.

The First Lady urged governors to establish community food banks in all senatorial districts of their respective states, in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), to provide the operational support needed to sustain the programme.

She said the success of the initiative would depend largely on the commitment of state governments to ensure that vulnerable families benefited from it.

Also speaking during the launch of the programme in Calabar, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Ali Pate, said the programme was critical to Nigeria’s human capital development, stressing that the country could not achieve sustainable prosperity without a well-nourished population.

He described nutrition as part of the country’s “grey matter infrastructure”, saying investment in the health and nutrition of children and women was as important as investment in physical infrastructure.

Pate said the Federal Government’s economic reforms are creating the conditions for National growth, but the gains would not translate into sustainable development unless the country also invested in its people.

Governor Bassey Otu said Cross River was prepared to complement the Federal Government’s intervention, noting that the state had already established functional food banks across its three senatorial districts.

Otu said his administration was also addressing the root causes of hunger and poverty through investments in agriculture and food production.

He listed a 50,000-hectare rice farming programme, a 20,000-hectare cassava farm cluster, support for fishermen and artisans, grants to farmers and agribusiness operators, as well as investments in small-holder farmer clusters.

He said the state’s Special Agro-Processing Zone would provide a ready market for farmers, while a proposed ₦70 billion public-private partnership investment programme would further strengthen the agricultural sector.

The governor said the food bank initiative would complement the state’s efforts to reduce hunger, improve livelihoods and strengthen food security.