The Commissioner for Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Hon. Joe Poroma has called on administrators and managers of orphanages to provide good nutrition for children for healthy living.
Hon. Poroma made the call yesterday at a one day workshop on nutrition for administrators and managers of orphanages in the state organised by Nestle Nigerian PLC in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation at the conference hall of the Head of Service office in Port Harcourt.
The Commissioner said “if you feed the children under your care well, they will grow up to become better adults tomorrow“ adding that the lives of these kids are in your hands to care and nurture.
He encouraged operators of orphanages in the state to always refer to the ministry when faced with challenges and urged them to put into practice all the knowledge gained in the workshop to improve the lives of the kids under their care.
Speaking on the theme of the workshop “securing the future through with the right nutrition“ the Permanent Secretary of the ministry Ms. Kadilo Brown said good nutrition is very important in the lives of orphaned children as substitute for breast milk.
According to her, good nutrition is not all about money but the ability to choose a combination of food that contains the right nutritional value for the children to eat and live healthy adding “you are what you eat”.
Ms. Brown however warned operators of baby factories within the state to stop as government will come after them while urging those that have not registered with the ministry to do so and thanked Nestle for partnering with her ministry on the subject of nutrition.
Earlier, Mrs. Ofulue Olufumilayo who represented the category business manager, nestle Nutrition Mr. Rizwan Yusuf had said that Nestle is committed to promoting healthy nutrition for infants and younger children and marketing of breast milk substitutes in compliance with World Health Organisation standards.
She called on, managers of orphanages in the state to take the message of nutrition, health, hygiene and well being serious in their daily routines and thanked the ministry for partnering with them.
Presenting the lead paper, Dr. E. C Okorie said it is estimated that 40% of children in Nigeria has stunted growth and that every minute, 10% of children all over the world die of mal nutrition adding that the only remedy to this is good nutrition for physical and mental development.
River State Government Press Release
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