By Grace Alegba
The MATAN Food Bank Professionals Association of Nigeria says its new Automated MATAN Food Security initiative (AMFSI) will cater to over 40million Nigerians with direct food access.
Speaking in Lagos at the close of the group’s three-day national programme, Mr Olakunle Johnson, the Group National President of MATAN, said this was part of efforts to tackle rising hunger nationwide.
Johnson said that the group had spent years developing a ground-up digital food security system designed to connect every Nigerian community to an efficient food bank network.
He said that at the heart of the project was a new digital identity platform, Virtual Digital Identity (VDI), which would eliminate long-standing bottlenecks that had hampered food support systems in the past.
He said that the VDI platform, alongside MATAN’s automated food security system, would ensure that individuals in every community could be digitally captured and connected to local food banks and community kitchens.
Johnson said that the project was not another political promise but a fully developed private-sector-driven system built on digitalisation, community participation and nationwide collaboration.
“For decades, we have heard promises about food security, but nobody has built a structure around the people themselves.
“That is what we are doing, creating a system rooted in the heart of the people.
“It is not about talking without action. We have the platform ready; we have tested it. We have presented it to the relevant authorities, including the Office of the President,” he said.
Johnson said that discussions already held with local and international investors who had signalled readiness to support implementation, while government at federal, state and local levels will play supervisory and enabling roles.
According to him, once the system becomes operational, food access will be decentralised to the smallest units across the country.
“With a digital identity, you can wake up in the morning and see your community food bank or food kitchen in your neighbourhood. Nobody should fear hunger again,” he said.
Johnson described the launch as the second phase of MATAN’s broader food security vision, following the successful rollout of earlier advocacy and policy engagements.
He expressed confidence that the initiative, once fully implemented, would resolve Nigeria’s food insecurity challenges and set a model for community-driven interventions across Africa.
Rep. Gowon Haruna, a lawmaker representing Bassa/Dekina Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, also assured MATAN of full support from the National Assembly.
Haruna said that the legislature was prepared to provide the needed legal backing for the nationwide food intervention initiative.
He said that food security directly affected physical and mental health, productivity, social stability and national development, adding that its absence contributes significantly to the country’s insecurity challenges.
“We at the National Assembly will support you with legislation that will make it easy. This is a national assignment. As far as food matters, NASS is behind you,” he said.
Also, Mr Chris-lands Onyemechara, Senior Consultant, House Committee on Nutrition and Food Security, assured the group of the house support which must cut across the 774 local government areas in the nation.
According to Chief Charles Igwenagu, South-East General Secretary of the group, the initiative is highly needed because it is about bringing life to the nation.
Also, Dr Felix Osakwe, Group National Secretary of the association, said that the initiative aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s food security agenda.
Osakwe said that members of the House of Representatives present at the event had expressed readiness to collaborate.
He, however, urged all Nigerians to support the initiative in order to tackle the problem of food insecurity properly. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng).
Edited by Kadiri Abdulrahman
