Government, ATNi mobilise private sector to unlock investment, local value addition and stronger food-processing industries across Nigeria

Chioma Vivian James

The Federal Government is repositioning the Nutrition 774 Initiative as a strategic platform for driving food industrialisation, strengthening micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), attracting private investment and creating jobs across Nigeria.

The initiative, being advanced in collaboration with the Access to Nutrition Initiative (ATNi), is designed to move nutrition beyond the traditional perception of a health and humanitarian concern and establish it as a critical component of Nigeria’s industrial and economic development agenda.

Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Senator John Owan Enoh, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja at a High-Level Private Sector Roundtable Engagement on Nutrition, themed, “Nutrition as a Critical Lever of Nigeria’s Food Industrialization and MSME Competitiveness.”

Enoh said the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) would develop a Unified “Trade” Sector Nutrition Strategic Plan and undertake a nationwide mapping of private-sector capabilities to identify bottlenecks, unlock investment and promote local value addition across the food and nutrition value chain.

According to the minister, the move reflects a deliberate shift in government thinking, with nutrition now being recognised not only as a public-health priority but also as an industrial and economic imperative with direct implications for productivity, enterprise development, domestic manufacturing and wealth creation.

He said the proposed strategic plan would align with the National Policy on Food and Nutrition 2026–2035, the Nigeria Industrial Policy and the Vice President’s Nutrition 774 Initiative, while strengthening collaboration among government institutions and other stakeholders.

Enoh pointed to Nigeria’s vast agricultural resources, including cassava, legumes, cocoa, oil palm, cashew and biofortified crops, as critical raw materials capable of supporting competitive domestic food industries.

He said the challenge was to move beyond the production of raw agricultural commodities by investing in processing, manufacturing, packaging and distribution to create affordable, nutritious and high-value products for both domestic and export markets.

The minister called for targeted technical assistance, modern processing equipment and accessible financing to enable MSMEs to expand their operations and compete effectively.

He identified Cluster Facility Centres as important platforms for improving food processing, hygienic handling, packaging and compliance with quality standards, stressing that stronger infrastructure would help small businesses move from informal production to sustainable commercial enterprises.

Enoh also urged food manufacturers to integrate nutrition into their commercial strategies by increasing the use of locally sourced and biofortified raw materials, improving product formulations and expanding the production of affordable fortified foods.

He called on financial institutions to provide affordable, long-term financing specifically tailored to the needs of food-processing MSMEs, while urging development partners and regulatory agencies to strengthen technical assistance, quality assurance, accountability and local procurement.

The minister stressed that converting Nigeria’s agricultural resources into industrial value would create stronger and more reliable markets for farmers while expanding economic opportunities for women and young people, generating employment and strengthening domestic manufacturing.

The Permanent Secretary of FMITI, Dr. Chris Osa Isokpunwu, described nutrition as an economic and industrial priority with far-reaching implications for enterprise development, investment, trade, productivity and national wellbeing.

Isokpunwu said meaningful progress would depend heavily on active private-sector participation, given the sector’s investment capacity, innovation, production networks and extensive market reach.

He explained that the roundtable was convened to identify opportunities and bottlenecks across the nutrition value chain, map private-sector capabilities and develop practical pathways towards a broader national platform under the MarketFit Nutrition 2035 framework.

The Permanent Secretary challenged stakeholders to move beyond declarations and commitments towards concrete investments, incentives and measurable interventions capable of creating sustainable markets for Nigerian farmers, strengthening domestic industries, attracting investment and generating jobs.

Also speaking, the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Nutrition, Mrs. Uju Vanstasia Anwukah, reaffirmed nutrition as a major priority of the Federal Government, stressing that sustainable economic development could not be separated from the health and productivity of the population.

Anwukah explained that the Nutrition 774 Initiative provides a governance and accountability framework for addressing malnutrition across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas through coordinated action involving governments at all levels, the private sector, development partners and communities.

She called for a new model of private-sector engagement in which businesses move beyond corporate social responsibility and philanthropy to become investors, innovators and strategic partners in developing commercially sustainable nutrition solutions.

The Executive Director of ATNi, Greg Garrett, similarly advocated placing nutrition at the centre of Nigeria’s industrial and economic development agenda.

Garrett said tackling malnutrition required coordinated action throughout the food system—from farming and processing to manufacturing, distribution and consumption.

He noted that Nigeria’s abundant agricultural resources, combined with its large consumer market, offered substantial opportunities for expanding local food processing and value addition while strengthening linkages between farmers and manufacturers.

He further advocated stronger compliance with national and international standards in food production, fortification and quality assurance, stressing that nutritious food must not only meet required standards but also be commercially viable and accessible to consumers.

The high-level engagement brought together government officials, private-sector leaders, manufacturers, financial institutions, regulatory agencies, development partners and technical experts to examine practical strategies for integrating nutrition into Nigeria’s industrial and commercial ecosystem.

At the heart of the discussions was the need to build stronger connections between Nigeria’s farms, factories, markets and consumers—transforming agricultural resources into finished products that create value at home rather than exporting much of the economic opportunity embedded in raw commodities.

The engagement therefore represents an effort to redefine nutrition as an economic opportunity as much as a social responsibility, with the potential to stimulate investment, strengthen MSMEs, expand local manufacturing and create jobs.

For Nigeria, the emerging approach places food and nutrition at the intersection of agriculture, industry, trade, finance, health and employment, with the Nutrition 774 Initiative providing a framework for translating national commitments into action at the grassroots.

The Federal Government reaffirmed its commitment to building a stronger domestic food industry capable of converting Nigeria’s agricultural wealth into industrial value, expanding opportunities for MSMEs, strengthening local production and contributing to improved nutrition, employment and sustainable economic growth.