Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders
Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders, urging them to use their grassroots authority to drive household mobilisation for the Federal Government’s National Community Food Bank Programme, which is scheduled to roll out nationwide in April through Primary Health Centres. 
Speaking at the National Traditional and Religious Leaders Summit on Health 2026 at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja, the First Lady said government agencies alone cannot achieve the awareness and behavioural change required to tackle malnutrition at community level, especially among vulnerable households with children under six. 
Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders, stressing that “no eligible family must be left behind” as the programme begins. Addressing a gathering that included emirs, obas, bishops, archbishops and other leaders from across the federation, she said traditional institutions and faith communities have the reach, trust and influence needed to shift attitudes, counter misinformation and encourage participation. 
What the programme will do, and how it is meant to work
Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders, and the policy design behind her appeal is specific. The programme is being developed with the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), and will operate through the nationwide network of Primary Health Centres (PHCs). 
Under the model outlined at the summit, caregivers in families with children under six years will be identified and registered. They are expected to receive nutritional counselling and food vouchers that can be redeemed for locally grown nutritious food at food banks to be established close to health centres. 
Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders, describing the approach as a community nutrition support system that improves access to safe and nutritious food for vulnerable children, while supporting a national drive to reduce malnutrition. 
Funding and accountability claims
A major question Nigerians tend to ask about social programmes is: who pays, and who supervises? Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders and disclosed that the initiative would be funded through a Trust Fund fed by willing private sector partners and public-spirited Nigerians, with oversight assigned to “credible Nigerians” to ensure accountability. 
She also listed the Bank of Industry and the Bank of Agriculture among collaborating partners. 
At the flag-off, she formally launched the Advocacy and Awareness Campaign for the National Community Food Bank Programme and congratulated the National Health Fellows, health volunteers deployed one per local government area, as their second cohort begins. 
Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders because, in her framing, even a well-funded programme can fail if communities do not trust it, understand it, or show up for it.
https://ogelenews.ng/help-end-child-malnutrition-oluremi-tinubu
The scale of the malnutrition problem
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, used the summit to underscore why the initiative is being pushed with urgency. He said nearly 40% of Nigerian children have stunted growth, adding that malnutrition often begins from the womb when mothers lack adequate calories and protein, and that early childhood nutrition shapes school performance and long-term outcomes. 
Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders, and Pate’s figures were meant to show that the issue is not cosmetic. It is a national productivity problem, and a survival problem.
How it links to the wider health reform agenda
Pate also tied the food bank plan to the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, saying the broader reform push has included immunisation campaigns, PHC revitalisation in collaboration with states, retraining of frontline health workers, and the commencement of cancer treatment centres in Katsina, Enugu, Maiduguri and Sokoto. 
Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders, but the political subtext is clear: the administration wants its health agenda judged by measurable outcomes, not just speeches.
Traditional and religious leaders: what they promised
Speaking on behalf of traditional leaders, the Emir of Zazzau, Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, said rulers have a moral duty to promote positive health behaviour, combat misinformation and work with government, while urging that summit resolutions be translated into concrete actions within communities. 
The summit featured a compact signing ceremony where traditional and religious leaders formally committed to championing health sector reforms in their domains. 
Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders, and the compact is meant to move the relationship from “we support” to “we will act.”
Why this matters in the real Nigeria
This is where the story stops being Abuja protocol. Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders because they can reach the households government programmes struggle to reach: families who do not trust officials, who rarely visit clinics, or who simply don’t have consistent access to accurate health information.
If PHC-based registration is done transparently, and the voucher system is protected from gatekeeping, it could help reduce the nutrition gap for children most at risk. If implementation becomes politicised, captured by local power brokers, or poorly supervised, it risks becoming another programme that looks good at launch and fades at community level.
Help end child malnutrition, Oluremi Tinubu begs traditional, religious leaders, and the success of the programme will likely depend on two things Nigerians will quickly notice: whether the most vulnerable truly benefit, and whether the system is fair.
https://punchng.com/help-end-child-malnutrition-oluremi-tinubu-begs-traditional-religious-leaders
