EU backs local nutrition production in Nigeria

Photo credit: EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS. Photo: EU

The European Union has reaffirmed its support for local nutrition production in Nigeria, as part of efforts to strengthen the fight against child malnutrition and reduce dependence on imported therapeutic foods. According to a statement released by the EU delegation on Wednesday, the EU Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, led a Team Europe delegation on a visit to NutriK’s production facility located in the Kano Free Trade Zone, where he underscored the importance of linking industrial investment with humanitarian outcomes. The delegation included representatives of EU member states and officials from UNICEF, as part of a broader engagement on nutrition, health systems, and sustainable livelihoods in northern Nigeria. Speaking during the visit, Mignot said the EU’s engagement in Nigeria’s nutrition sector is aimed at ensuring that investments in production systems directly improve outcomes for vulnerable children. He noted that the production of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food at the Kano facility demonstrates how private investment and development cooperation can combine to address urgent humanitarian needs. “The products manufactured here are helping to support vulnerable children while demonstrating how investment and innovation as well as business-friendly conditions created by the Kano authorities contribute to human development and economic growth,” Mignot said. He added that the visit was also intended to strengthen coordination among development actors working on nutrition interventions in Nigeria. “We came here to learn more about the progress being made, to engage with partners on the ground and to explore how collaboration between Kano, the European Union, UNICEF and the private sector can continue to deliver results,” he said. The visit also highlighted ongoing efforts by NutriK’s, a French–Nigerian nutrition company and subsidiary of the France-based Nutriset Group, to expand local sourcing of raw materials. The company currently relies on imported groundnuts due to quality gaps in local supply, but says it is investing in upgrading domestic processing capacity to enable the use of Nigeria-sourced inputs in the coming months. NutriK’s Managing Director, Abdoulkader Yonli, said the transition would reduce production costs and strengthen the entire agricultural value chain, from farmers to processors and manufacturers. He added that NutriK’s is committed to both treatment and prevention of malnutrition, noting that demand for RUTF in Nigeria remains significantly higher