ASABA FOOD SYSTEM EXPLORATORY DIALOGUE

NIGERIA PREPARES FOR SUB-NATIONAL EXPLORATORY FOOD SYSTEMS DIALOGUES

Nigeria organized its Inception Food Systems Dialogue on 23^rd February, 2021 in line with the call by the United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres. The dialogue which was held simultaneously on-site and online was attended by over 700 participants within and outside the country.

The Inception Dialogue was guided by the United Nations Five Action Tracks which are: Ensuring Access to Safe and Nutritious Food for All; Shift to Sustainable Consumption Patterns; Boost Nature-Positive Production; Advance Equitable Livelihoods; Build Resilience to Vulnerabilities, Shocks and Stresses.

The Inception Dialogue was presided over and declared open by His Excellency Professor Yemi Osimbajo, CON, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. At the technical session, a lead paper was presented titled “Setting the Scene on Status of Food Systems in Nigeria. The lead paper was followed by five technical presentations by Experts along the five action tracks, leading to extensive dialogues by participants who were divided into ten break-out sessions.

Following the success of the Inception Dialogue, arrangements are being concluded for the Exploratory Dialogues at the sub-national (regional) level from 6^th – 9^th April, 2021. The regional Exploratory Dialogues are planned to hold in two locations in each of the 6 geo-political zones. Facilitators and Curators were strategically identified both within the zones and the federal level. Guidelines to guide discussions have been developed by Experts and it is being produced and shared with the coordinators in the states that are hosting within the zones.

Our approach is to ensure that the State that will host the dialogue in the zone will be required to set up a Secretariat to document resolutions reached at the dialogue. In our bid to guarantee success and effective documentation, the National Convenor has appointed federal officials to support the Secretariat at the regional levels. The exploratory dialogues are planned in such a way that zones are expected to take ownership of the dialogues and the outcomes.

The Exploratory Dialogue across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria will focus on the following:

• Extensive exploration in the Regions, Zones, States and Cities;
• Explore and synthesize promising approaches that contribute to sustainable food systems through expanded stakeholders’ engagement;
• Representatives from broad based stakeholders which will include Local Governments, Cities;
• Independent dialogues exploring themes relevant to their interest and submit action tracks;
• The Dialogues are to be conducted via hybrid meetings (physical presence and through any of the virtual platforms)
• Will engage a diversity of participants such as Small/Medium Enterprise/Artisan, Large national business, Multinational Corporation, Small-scale farmer, Medium-scale farmer, Large-scale farmer, Local Non-Governmental Organization, International NGO, Indigenous people, Science and academia, Workers and Trade Union, Members of Parliament, Local authority, Government and national institution, Regional Economic Community, United Nations, International financial institution, Private Foundation/Partnership/Alliance, and Regional Economic Community from across the agricultural value chains within the geopolitical zones; enabling quality, purposeful and productive discussions;
• The situation analysis of the Food System in Nigeria in addition to the provision of guides that will stimulate discussion on the pathway will be presented towards evolving a nutritious and healthy diets using the experience coming out of the Inception Dialogue, at the Exploratory level.

Consequently, the South-South regional consultations have been scheduled to hold in Delta State with Asaba city as the venue. The dialogue will be held in collaboration with the neighboring Bayelsa & Edo States on the 7^th of April, 2021.

The outcomes of the exploratory dialogues will be the focus of discussion during the consolidatory dialogue that will be organized later.