By:
Jeremiah Aihumeken-Okhai
Despite being celebrated as the land of Beauty and strong Agricultural potential, Adamawa State is facing an urgent nutrition emergency that experts warn could distort its future if immediate action is not taken. Recent data presented at a high-level media roundtable in Yola reveal that nearly half of children in the state suffer from stunted growth due to persistent malnutrition — a condition that permanently damages physical and brain development.
The alarming statistics show that 48.6% of children are stunted, 32.5% are underweight, and 7% suffer acute malnutrition (wasting). Health and development experts say these numbers place Adamawa among the regions most affected and threatened, which impacts workforce productivity, school performance, and hampers long-term economic growth.
The warning was issued by the Civil Society–Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), supported by UNICEF, during a media engagement aimed at pushing for urgent government intervention and increased funding for nutrition programmes.
Despite its vast agricultural potential, the state continues to battle food insecurity and poor maternal and child nutrition — a contradiction stakeholders say reflects gaps in policy implementation, coordination, and financing.
Stakeholders are now urging the Adamawa State Government to declare nutrition a priority emergency and take bold measures which include:
Increasing and protecting nutrition funding across key sectors.
Ensuring the timely release of approved funds.
Extending paid maternity leave to six months to support exclusive breastfeeding.
Fully implementing the State Multisectorial plan of Action for Food and Nutrition.
Strengthening interventions at the local government level.
Stakeholders also urge the government to take advantage of the Children Nutrition Fund (CNF), a counterpart fund by UNICEF that addresses the gap in high burden countries focusing on stunting, wasting, and anemia.
Experts stress that the first 1,000 days of a child’s life offer a critical window to prevent lifelong damage, warning that failure to act now could produce a generation with reduced learning ability and earning potential.
They also emphasized that malnutrition is not only a health issue but a direct economic threat, capable of trapping families — and the state — in cycles of poverty.
Civil society groups(CSOs), the Media, and the private sector have been called upon to increase advocacy, sensitization, awareness, and investment in affordable, nutritious foods, while holding authorities accountable for results.
Stakeholders say the crisis now represents a defining test of leadership for the state, with the future of thousands of children hanging in the balance.
Investing in nutrition today could be the turning point and help to save lives and secure Adamawa’s economic future — but delay could carry consequences for many  years due to acute hunger and malnutrition.