On this year’s Children’s Day, Nestlé Nigeria took a unique approach to celebrating Nigerian children by gathering children from 30 beneficiary schools of the Nestlé for Healthier Kids programme by providing them with learning materials.
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The company has been at the forefront of efforts to help children live healthier, happier lives through research, product innovation, food fortification, nutrition education and promotion of an active lifestyle, over the years. Nestle Nigeria collaborates with stakeholders to reach children every year through several initiatives including Nestle for Healthier Kids (N4HK), a school-based nutrition education programme.
Though, it may appear a small gesture, for children, Nigeria remains a harrowingly hard place and any effort to make it easier of the Nigerian child is no mean feat. Conflicts manifesting in different forms have already complicated what is no doubt difficult circumstances to tie children in knots. According to the 2021 Global Childhood Report by Save the Children, a UK-based non-governmental organization focusing on the issues that affect children and their survival, Nigeria remains one of the most difficult places to be a child, ranking below veritable hellholes like Yemen and Syria.
As Nigeria has continued to cascade into chaos, one fact has become more obvious than others, and it is that children are disproportionately caught in the middle of the crises. When communities have been attacked and entire families slaughtered, children have been victims. When livelihoods have been wiped out and the realization of SDGs 1 and 2 cruelly deferred for already impoverished communities, children have borne the brunt.
For children like Jamil, one of the beneficiaries of the Nestle programmes, programmes like the N4HK are life changers. Jamil radiates joy as he shares his experience with Nestlé for Healthier Kids, a school-based nutrition education program that has left a lasting impact on his life. Dreaming of becoming a medical doctor, Jamil expresses his delight, “I have enjoyed the N4HK teachings in my class. I have been taught about the different classes of food, food hygiene, food nutrients and digestion as well as physical exercises.”
His favorite topic? Hygiene. Jamil proudly declares, “I have shared this lesson with my friends and family members, and they now know the importance of hand washing and proper washing of food before cooking and eating.”
Speaking on Children’s Day, Nestlé Nigeria’s Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Mrs. Victoria Uwadoka said, “I wish all Nigerian children a very Happy Children’s Day! This annual event gives us the opportunity to celebrate them and to reflect on how to enhance their health and wellbeing.
“At Nestlé, we believe that Nigerian children have the potential to demonstrate the greatness of this country. Attaining the nation of our dreams begins with prioritizing and advancing the development and welfare of children. We are therefore, delighted to collaborate with our partners to prepare them for the future through the Nestlé for Healthier Kids initiative. We trust that the learning materials we are providing them with today will go a long way towards making their learning experience more exciting”.
“May 27 of every year is set aside to raise awareness of the problems faced by children in Nigeria, including adequate nutrition, access to healthcare, welfare, and education. Nestlé Nigeria PLC is dedicated to enhancing the teaching and learning environment in public schools around her operating locations. In the past three years, the company has invested in the provision of infrastructure in nine N4HK beneficiary schools. The company has renovated classrooms, provided water and sanitation facilities and donated relevant educational materials to learners. The company looks to increase the impact and scale of its interventions to reach even more schools in the coming years.
Relaunched in 2018, N4HK is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education, the Federal Ministry of Health, Ogun State Universal Basic Education Board, FCT Universal Basic Education Board and the Nutrition Society of Nigeria.
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