There are several ways in which school children and adolescents can play an active role in the area of nutrition. An adolescent programme in nutrition should take advantage of the common cultural practice of older children being given the responsibility to look after younger siblings. Simple indicators for growth assessment can be easily made and used by adolescents for the purpose of monitoring growth. Opportunities should be given to adolescents to participate in setting up school gardens and making contributions to community efforts to improve food production. All adolescents should receive the requisite training in setting priorities, and management of resources in the home.
Adolescence is usually a turbulent period.
The adolescent goes through puberty characterized by the development of primary and secondary sexual characteristics. These physical changes have implications for nutrition, intellectual, social and emotional development. The adolescent struggles with becoming an adult, bodily changes and personality crises. They need to be treated with understanding, given challenging tasks, encouragement and good examples, to develop into model adults. In conclusion, although Nigeria has one of the fastest growing populations in the world, there are many efforts that have been made to reduce the poor nutritional status of this country.