CHI Limited, one of Nigeria’s most respected corporate entities and the leading producer of high quality fruit juice, dairy and snacks products, will join hands with Tetra Pak, a global leading food processing and packaging solutions’ company, to explore opportunities for feasible food & beverage solutions in an effort to fight malnutrition amongst children in Nigeria.

CHI is one of the largest partners of Tetra Pak in Africa employing use of many of its packaging solutions to serve safe, innovative and environmentally friendly products to her customers across the country.

As part of efforts to alleviate malnutrition among the country’s children, the joint initiative between CHI Limited & Tetra Pak will develop feasible solutions for providing healthy nourishment for Nigerian children. To achieve this, the companies will undertake an in-depth assessment of the ground realities of the nutritional requirements and the need gaps specific to children in Nigeria. This partnership will provide a platform for the involvement of relevant major stakeholders, institutes, governmental and non-governmental organizations for the delivery of nutrition solutions to the Nigerian children.

Mr. C G Vink, Chairman of Chi Limited (the flagship company of the TGI Group), noted that “Child nutrition is important to our country’s future and being a proudly Nigerian company, we are committed to putting in our best to the building and shaping a healthy and brighter Nigeria.”

Mr Dennis Jönsson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tetra Pak, said “Tetra Pak has partnered with governments, customers and other public and private partners to support school feeding programmes around the world for more than 50 years, promoting children’s right to nutrition, health and education as well as helping to build the demand for locally produced and processed products. We are happy to have formed a strong partnership with Chi in Nigeria.”

According to the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, up to 80% of Nigerian children suffer from nutrition deficiencies, particularly from Iron, Zinc and vitamins. This leads to slower brain development, concentration issues, a weak immune system and underdevelopment of memory, vision and hearing. Investments in education are significantly undermined if children are not nourished properly. According to the same survey, over one third of Nigerian children are malnourished to the extent that their physical growth is measurably reduced compared to children in peer countries. A case in reference, according to various available statistics from UNESCO, EU, FAO etc, as many as 11 million children in Nigeria are suffering from stunted growth occasioned by chronic malnutrition