Towards a Comprehensive Framework for Sustainable Food Systems Governance in Nigeria: Integrating Policy Analysis, Stakeholder Mapping, and Environmental Impact Assessment

Nigeria's food system faces intertwined challenges of food insecurity, environmental degradation, dietary quality decline, and governance fragmentation that require a comprehensive and integrated policy response. Existing governance frameworks are siloed across ministries and fail to address the full ecological, economic, and nutritional dimensions of food system sustainability. This study developed a comprehensive framework for sustainable food systems governance in Nigeria, integrating policy analysis, multi-stakeholder mapping, and environmental impact assessment methodologies. A multi-phase design was employed: phase one involved systematic review and meta-synthesis of existing Nigerian food and agricultural policies published between 2015 and 2024; phase two conducted structured stakeholder network analysis involving 120 actors across government, civil society, private sector, and academia; phase three applied life cycle assessment principles to quantify the environmental footprint of three dominant Nigerian food supply chains. Data were analysed using policy coherence scoring, social network analysis metrics, and environmental input-output modelling. Results revealed critical policy coherence gaps between agricultural production, nutrition, and environmental management sectors. Stakeholder analysis identified structural power imbalances that marginalised smallholder farmers and nutrition advocates from decision-making platforms. Environmental footprinting showed that cereal and vegetable supply chains had significantly lower greenhouse gas intensity than livestock chains. The framework proposed integrates food system indicators across health, environment, equity, and economic dimensions. Keywords: sustainable food systems, governance framework, Nigeria, policy coherence, environmental assessment