Vice President Kashim Shettima has departed Abuja for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he will lead a high-level Nigerian delegation on a leadership and learning exchange focused on improving nutrition delivery across the country.
Shettima and the delegation departed Nigeria on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, ahead of the Nigeria-Ethiopia Leadership Exchange scheduled for October 7–9.
The visit was approved by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and comes as the Federal Government seeks to strengthen nutrition programmes at state and local government levels through the Nutrition 774 Initiative (N774).
Seven state governors are part of the delegation: Dauda Lawal of Zamfara, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara, Alex Otti of Abia, Bassey Otu of Cross River, Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno, Ademola Adeleke of Osun and Umar Namadi of Jigawa.
The Nigerian team is expected to study Ethiopia’s Seqota Declaration, a national nutrition initiative launched in 2015 with a commitment to eliminate stunting among children under two by 2030.
The Ethiopian model uses a multisectoral approach involving areas including health, agriculture, education, water, finance and social affairs, with a 15-year implementation roadmap divided into Innovation, Expansion and Scale-Up phases.
The Federal Government considers the Ethiopian experience a useful model for translating political commitments on nutrition into coordinated, financed and accountable programmes at the sub-national level.
The exchange is expected to give Nigerian officials an opportunity to examine Ethiopia’s approach and identify strategies that could strengthen nutrition interventions across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.
The visit also aims to deepen cooperation between Nigeria and Ethiopia while supporting the implementation of Nigeria’s broader nutrition priorities at the grassroots level.
