The Vice Chancellor of Chrisland University, Ogun State, Prof. Chinedum Peace Babalola has called on the Nigerian government to reduce the cause of inflation, poverty, hunger, and malnutrition in the country rather than the proposed increment of minimum wage for workers.

Babalola made this call in an interview with CEOAFRICA at the 2024 Clinical Nutrition Conference organized by the West African Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (WASPEN) held at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Lagos State, Nigeria, from 3rd to 7th June 2024.

Prof. Babalola who said the major cause of malnutrition in Nigeria lies in a lot of factors that need to be addressed by the government to bring ease to the citizens of the country, lamented the high rate of poverty and hunger in the land which she attributed to the hike in the price of fuel.

According to her, the hike in the price of fuel has over time, made life difficult for the average Nigerian, urging the government to look for a lasting solution to reduce the price of fuel to reduce the burden on all areas of the country.

Citing that farmers need fuel to transport their farm products to be available for consumers, the Chrisland varsity VC further urged the government to make farming easy for the farmers by providing an enabling environment devoid of insecurity.

She said the increase in insecurity in the country where farmers are killed, maimed, or kidnapped on their farm has led to the discouragement of thousands of people who wanted to venture into farming, bringing about a reduction in the farm products available to the public.

Babalola stated that providing an enabling environment will help to crash inflation and poverty which are the major causes of malnutrition in the country, expressing that life is interwoven with nutrition, an essential need for people and the government.

Amidst the ongoing talks between the Federal Government and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on minimum wage, it will be recalled that CEOAFRICA reported yesterday that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has stepped down consideration and deliberation on the memo on the new minimum wage to allow President Bola Tinubu to engage in more consultation with stakeholders. Talks for a new minimum wage for Nigerian workers have been on for a while. The Minimum Wage Act of 2019, which made ₦30,000 the minimum wage, expired in April 2024.

While commending the effort of WASPEN, Prof. Babalola stated that the Organization under the leadership of Dr. Teresa Isichei Pounds, the founder and President, is doing well by bringing in medical experts to tackle the problem of nutrition and providing good health care for the people, as well as filling the gap of nutrition of the people, especially the hospitalized patients.

According to her, many drugs function better when there is good parenteral and enteral nutrition while encouraging health practitioners to make use of local products to manufacture drugs to make them affordable and available to the people.