Food and nutrition security is increasingly understood as the most vital component of human ecosystems for transforming raw materials into foods, nutrients, and health outcomes. In addition to the distortions in the global food and nutrition systems as reflected in the triple burden of undernutrition, micronutrient deficiency, and overnutrition, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated devastating socioeconomic crises in the Global South. Food supply chain fragilities have become more prominent due to inherent capacity shortages to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on food supply. From the global community’s perspective, scientific research innovations, disruptive technologies, and public health preparedness are some of the strategic pillars and critical drivers of post-pandemic socioeconomic recovery and resilience. As the COVID-19 pandemic signals a scientific paradigm shift towards accelerating food systems and public health innovation, a key takeaway for governments in the Global South, along with enterprises and communities, is scaling the implementation of selected social protection policy interventions towards rapidly absorbing future socioeconomic shocks while consolidating alternative pathways for a region-wide sustainable food system.

Social protection helps in addressing the problem of extreme poverty and enhance food security, while building resilience against shocks. Globally, within the last two decades, social protection has helped in transferring about 150 million households out of extreme poverty and food insecurity. However, only about 45% of the world population is covered by at least one social assistance. This study empirically examines the effect of social protection on food security in the Global South, using West Africa as a case study. Data were sourced from the World Development Indicators and the Country Policy Institutional Assessment for the period 2005–2018. Data cover 15 West African countries that are members of the Economic Community of West African States. To resolve the possible issue of endogeneity, and reverse causality, the study applies the generalised method of moments (GMMs). Result showed that social protection is statistically significant and has a positive effect on food security in West Africa. This implies that a 1% increase in social protection coverage may increase the level of food security by 2.1%. Therefore, the study recommends that social protection intervention should be enhanced to mitigate the impact of socioeconomics shocks faced by the poor and the most vulnerable households.

The Millennium Development Coals (MDGs) are a potentially powerful tool for economic development. There is the growing awareness about the economic importance of tourism in Nigeria. Though the industry is fraught with certain challenges, which are seemingly insurmountable, it has a crucial role to play in helping Nigeria to achieve the 2015 anti‐poverty MDGs. This paper discusses some of the potential benefits of the tourism industry in Nigeria as well as an overview of the industry. Furthermore, it states the MDGs and its limitations. Furthermore it will discuss some of the problems that could impede the growth of the tourism sector. As Nigeria is becoming keenly aware of the substantial development potentials of tourism, this paper presents some recommendations to be considered in order to reap these potentials and facilitate the process of achieving the MDGs.