Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the President-elect of the African Development Bank, plans to replicate Nigeria’s energy nutritious foods model at the continental level, an official has said.
Olukayode Oyeleye, the spokesman of the AfDB president-elect, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Tuesday.
Oyeleye said Adesina was prepared to bring to bear his experience as Nigeria’s immediate past Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development at the continental level by enhancing the nutritional value of African foods.
He said: “Nutrition issues are very broad-based and there are so many drivers of nutrition development.
“His (Adesina) involvement and knowledge about this will also benefit Nigeria very greatly.
“Take for instance, he started on the issue of high energy nutritious foods and also linking that with poverty, especially in some parts of the country like in the North East and North West.
“And then of course linking it with the fact of this insurgency, which is actually displacing a lot of people.
“He is going to be involved in support in the area of nutrition too.
“And then of course, issue of gender.
“His intervention as agriculture minister has been gender sensitive.
“It has taken into consideration the peculiarity of gender issue and the relative disadvantage of women when it comes to issues of access to land or property title.
“So matters relating to gender will actually be part of his priority as the bank’s president, which also Nigeria will stand greatly to benefit from.”
Oyeleye said Adesina would also address issues of the environment frontally.
He said: “If you don’t take a very good care of the environment, you really would not be able to make much out of it.
“He is going to look into issues having to do with climate change.
“Climate has affected not just Nigeria as a country, but Nigeria is an integral part of Africa.
“He is going to address it on a continental basis, but Nigerian is going to benefit very greatly in this.
“In the area of taking care of climate stewardship or environmental stewardship, so he is going to give consideration to environmental stewardship with specific reference to climate change.
“It is going to be one of the areas he is going to get involved in.”
NAN recalls that in May 2014, Nigeria initiated moves to stimulate local production and processing of High Energy Nutritious Foods.
The government, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, leveraged on the opportunity provided by the World Economic Forum on Africa to begin the process.
The ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, mobilised local and foreign investors, agribusinesses and international development organisations to form what Adesina called a partnership for High Energy Nutritious Foods in Africa.
NAN.
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