By Iroyin Yoruba Television
Vice President Kashim Shettima has arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to lead a high-level Nigerian delegation to the inaugural Nigeria-Ethiopia Nutrition Leadership Exchange, a government-to-government initiative aimed at strengthening cooperation and sharing practical experience on nutrition, food security and development.
The three-day engagement, scheduled for October 7 to 9, brings Nigerian and Ethiopian officials together to examine how government-led policies can improve nutrition outcomes and strengthen coordination between federal, state and local authorities.
Shettima arrived in the Ethiopian capital on October 6 ahead of the programme. He was received by Nigeria's Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union, Ambassador Nasir Aminu, alongside other officials of the Nigerian diplomatic mission and Ethiopian government representatives.
The visit followed an invitation from Ethiopia's Deputy Prime Minister, Temesgen Tiruneh, who has been leading Ethiopia's multisectoral approach to improving nutrition.
The exchange represents a diplomatic engagement between two major African countries with shared interests in food security, agricultural development, public health and human capital development.
For Nigeria, the visit comes as the Federal Government seeks to strengthen its approach to tackling malnutrition and improving food and nutrition outcomes across the country's 774 local government areas.
The Nigerian delegation is expected to study Ethiopia's experience and examine how elements of its approach could provide useful lessons for Nigeria.
A major focus of the programme is Ethiopia's experience in coordinating nutrition policies across different sectors and levels of government.
The Ethiopian model is particularly relevant because nutrition is not treated solely as a health-sector issue. Food production, agriculture, education, water, social protection, economic planning and community development all have roles to play in determining whether families have reliable access to nutritious food.
The Nigerian government has increasingly sought to adopt a similarly integrated approach.
The Nigeria-Ethiopia exchange therefore goes beyond a conventional diplomatic visit. It is designed as a practical learning exercise in which government officials can examine programmes on the ground and discuss the mechanisms used to implement them.
The Nigerian delegation will engage Ethiopian officials and stakeholders on ways government-led programmes can improve nutrition delivery.
The programme also includes visits to agricultural and community-based initiatives.
Among the locations scheduled for visits are a wheat farm and banana plantation in Oromia, the Bounty of the Basket Training Centre and selected households in Mojo, as well as Jabdu Motors in Bishoftu.
The selection of these locations reflects the broad nature of the exchange.
Agriculture is directly connected to food availability and household nutrition. Farms and agricultural enterprises can demonstrate how production, processing and markets contribute to food security.
Community-level visits, meanwhile, can provide insight into how national policies are translated into practical interventions affecting households.
The participation of state governors in the Nigerian delegation is particularly significant.
Nigeria's nutrition challenges cannot be addressed entirely from Abuja because implementation ultimately takes place across states and local government areas.
Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal and Jigawa State Governor Umar Namadi are accompanying the Vice President. Other reports on the approved delegation also identified governors AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, Alex Otti of Abia State, Bassey Otu of Cross River State, Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State and Ademola Adeleke of Osun State as members of the wider delegation.
Their participation allows the exchange to include subnational perspectives.
This is important because states have different levels of food production, poverty, healthcare access, agricultural potential and nutritional needs.
A policy that works effectively in one part of Nigeria may require adjustments before being implemented elsewhere.
The exchange can therefore provide an opportunity for Nigerian officials to compare experiences and consider which elements of Ethiopia's approach could be adapted to Nigeria's circumstances.
One of the central Ethiopian initiatives expected to inform the discussions is the Seqota Declaration.
Ethiopia introduced the Seqota Declaration in 2015 as a national commitment aimed at ending stunting among children under two by 2030.
The programme uses a multisectoral approach involving government institutions responsible for areas including health, agriculture, education, water, energy, women and children, finance and other sectors.
Its implementation is structured around a long-term roadmap involving phases of innovation, expansion and scale-up.
For Nigerian policymakers, the experience offers a potential case study in how political commitments on nutrition can be translated into coordinated programmes at lower levels of government.
Nigeria has its own nutrition framework and initiatives, including the Nutrition 774 Initiative, which seeks to accelerate nutrition action across all local government areas.
The current exchange is expected to support the implementation of that broader national effort.
The Federal Government has been seeking greater coordination between the different institutions responsible for food production, healthcare, social protection and economic planning.
This reflects an understanding that malnutrition can have multiple causes.
A household may have access to food but still experience poor nutrition because of inadequate dietary diversity, limited healthcare, unsafe water, poor sanitation, lack of nutrition information or insufficient household income.
Addressing those problems requires cooperation across government ministries and agencies.
Agriculture is another critical component.
Nigeria has substantial agricultural potential, but food production alone does not automatically guarantee that families receive adequate nutrition.
Farmers require access to markets, storage, transportation, financing, inputs and technology. Consumers require access to affordable and nutritious food.
The Ethiopian visit is therefore expected to examine how agricultural policies can complement nutrition programmes.
The scheduled visit to agricultural sites in Oromia could provide Nigerian officials with practical examples of how food production can be connected to broader development objectives.
The participation of the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, gives the agricultural component of the visit additional significance.
The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, is also part of the delegation, reflecting the importance of financing and economic planning in the implementation of nutrition programmes.
The Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Zubaida Umar, is another member of the delegation.
Her participation is relevant to the broader relationship between nutrition, food security and vulnerability.
Nigeria has experienced humanitarian and food-security pressures in different regions, particularly in areas affected by conflict, displacement, climate-related challenges and economic hardship.
Lessons from Ethiopia could therefore be considered not only for long-term nutrition programmes but also for strategies aimed at vulnerable communities.
The diplomatic dimension of the visit is equally important.
Nigeria and Ethiopia are two influential African states and major participants in continental affairs.
Both countries play roles in regional and multilateral institutions, including the African Union.
Nigeria's diplomatic mission in Addis Ababa also serves as its permanent representation to the African Union, making Ethiopia an important location for Nigerian diplomatic engagement.
The presence of Ambassador Nasir Aminu, Nigeria's Ambassador to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union, during Shettima's arrival underscores the wider diplomatic significance of the visit.
The exchange can strengthen government-to-government relations while creating opportunities for future cooperation beyond nutrition.
Countries often deepen diplomatic relationships through practical cooperation in areas where their interests overlap.
Nutrition and food security provide one such area.
Agricultural technology, research, public health, social protection and human capital development could all become areas for continued engagement following the exchange.
For Nigeria, one potential benefit is access to tested ideas that can be assessed against domestic realities.
However, adopting lessons from another country does not necessarily mean copying its programmes.
Nigeria's population, federal structure, geography, agricultural systems and economic circumstances differ from Ethiopia's.
The value of the exchange will therefore depend on the ability of Nigerian policymakers to identify useful principles and adapt them appropriately.
This could include strengthening coordination between government agencies, establishing clearer responsibilities for subnational authorities, improving financing mechanisms and creating stronger systems for measuring nutrition outcomes.
Accountability is another important issue.
Long-term nutrition programmes require consistent funding and monitoring.
A policy can have ambitious targets, but achieving those targets depends on whether programmes are adequately financed and whether progress is measured accurately.
The Ethiopian experience provides Nigerian officials with an opportunity to examine how nutrition commitments are financed, monitored and implemented at decentralised levels.
The presence of state governors could also make it easier to translate lessons from the visit into state-level initiatives.
Nutrition outcomes vary considerably between communities, and local governments are often closest to the households that need interventions.
Strengthening local implementation could therefore be an important part of Nigeria's strategy.
The three-day exchange is expected to include discussions, site visits and interaction with Ethiopian officials and institutions.
The Nigerian delegation will return to Abuja after completing its engagements in Addis Ababa.
The visit also comes at a time when food prices, agricultural productivity and household purchasing power remain important issues for policymakers across Africa.
Nutrition cannot be separated entirely from the broader question of economic development.
When households have stronger incomes and reliable access to affordable food, they are generally better positioned to maintain healthy diets.
Similarly, stronger agricultural systems can improve food availability while creating employment and income opportunities.
This explains why the Nigerian delegation includes officials responsible for agriculture, budgeting and emergency management alongside political leaders.
The approach reflects the government's effort to connect nutrition with wider development policy.
The diplomatic significance of the exchange may also extend beyond the immediate programme.
Nigeria and Ethiopia can potentially develop further cooperation in agricultural research, food production, nutrition science, public policy and institutional capacity building.
Both countries have large populations and significant development responsibilities, making policy exchanges potentially valuable when they focus on practical results.
For the Nigerian government, the immediate objective is to learn from Ethiopia's experience and strengthen its own nutrition delivery system.
For Ethiopia, the exchange provides an opportunity to share its experience and deepen cooperation with one of Africa's most populous and influential countries.
The outcome of the visit will ultimately depend on what happens after the delegation returns home.
The most significant measure will be whether the lessons gathered in Ethiopia contribute to improvements in Nigeria's nutrition policies and their implementation at state and local levels.
If successful, the exchange could help strengthen coordination between agriculture, health, education, social protection and economic planning.
It could also support more effective implementation of Nigeria's Nutrition 774 Initiative.
The programme therefore represents both a diplomatic engagement and a policy-learning exercise.
As the Nigeria-Ethiopia Nutrition Leadership Exchange gets underway in Addis Ababa, Vice President Shettima and the Nigerian delegation are expected to examine Ethiopia's experience and identify approaches that could help Nigeria improve nutrition delivery.
The visit places practical cooperation at the centre of the relationship between the two countries, while demonstrating how diplomatic engagements can also be used to exchange policy experience and address shared development challenges.
For Nigeria, the central task will be converting the lessons from the Ethiopian experience into policies that work effectively across the country's diverse states and local communities.