Jigawa state government says it has put in place strategies, alongside partners to tackle child malnutrition through budgetary proposals, timely release and utilisation of funds as BAYO MUHAMMAD ALABIRA takes a look at it.
Hon Babangida Umar Gantsa, Jigawa state commissioner for budget and economic planning recently said the state government has unveiled strategies to address the multi-dimensional challenges facing children in the state.
He stated this while speaking at a media dialogue on Child Sensitive Budgeting and Planning in Jigawa organised by the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF).
The health commissioner said that the state government is committed to improving the well-being of children through child-sensitive budgeting and planning as he announced that those strategies include expansion of school feeding programmes, promotion of maternal and child nutrition, improvement of access to primary healthcare, enhancement of immunisation coverage and increase access to clean water, among other initiatives.
According to him, among the six key strategies outlined to tackle child poverty are nutrition and food security, healthcare and child survival, education and early childhood development, WASH, social protection and economic empowerment, governance and policy implementation.
He explained that UNICEF, which organised the media dialogue, has been urging governments at all levels in many states to increase budgetary allocations for children.
He further emphasized the need for child-focused budgets that address the needs of vulnerable children who are deprived of basic essential services.
UNICEF’s position
Also the chief of UNICEF Field Office Kano, Muhammad Farah equally emphasized the importance of budgeting for the development of children in the state.
According to him, adequate budget allocation is crucial for addressing the numerous challenges facing children including malnutrition in the state.
Farah further highlighted that children in Jigawa are confronted with serious problems, including child labour and early marriage, which are detrimental to their future.
These issues, he noted, can have long-lasting effects on the children’s well-being, education, and overall development.
His remarks underscore the need for policymakers to prioritise child-focused initiatives and allocate sufficient resources to support the well-being and development of children in the state, saying that by doing so, the state can work towards creating a brighter future for its young citizens and mitigate the adverse effects of child labor and early marriage.
Signs of distress/hope
However, the existing data has indicated that the state’s statistics on child health are alarming with 64% of children under five stunted, 9.6% wasted and 81.9% suffering from anemia-related ailment.
In some instances, indications have showed that over 80% of children experienced food poverty, lacking diverse diets to support their growth and development.
Furthermore, investigations have shown that 600,000 children in Jigawa are yet to be immunised against killer diseases, thereby making them vulnerable to preventable illnesses.
But with supports from organisations like UNICEF, the state government is working to combat malnutrition and improve child health outcomes through increase in budgeting.
For instance, in the past, UNICEF has handed over Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods to treat 14,000 children with wasting problems across the state.
Charge from health commissioner
Sequel to this, the commissioner for health, Dr Muhammad Abdullahi Kainuwa had sounded the alarm on the state’s nutrition crisis, warning that it posed a significant threat to the state’s future development across all sectors. According to the commissioner, nutrition problems can have far-reaching consequences, affecting not only the health and well-being of citizens but also the state’s economic and social progress.
He was of the opinion that the gravity of the situation has prompted the state to pilot an accepted nutrition policy aimed at addressing the nutritional challenges facing its citizens.
Kainuwa is therefore calling on all stakeholders to provide actionable plans that can be implemented to curb the nutrition crisis in the state.
He added that with the state’s children facing alarming rates of stunting, wasting and anemia, urgent action is needed to address the issue.
On the whole, the commissioner is hopeful that by working together, stakeholders can develop effective strategies to improve nutrition outcomes in Jigawa and secure a brighter future for its citizens. This is even as he noted that by prioritising nutrition, the state can unlock the full potential of its citizens and drive progress in all sectors.
Also Barrister Hauwa Zakari, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs said the ministry is prioritising the protection of children across the state, even as she emphasized that every child deserves to be safeguarded.
She noted that with the comprehensive data on all children in the state, the ministry is taking a proactive approach to ensure that their well-being is taken care of.
As part of this initiative, she said that child protection structures are to be established at both local government areas and at the community levels to provide a framework for reporting and addressing cases of child abuse or neglect.
She explained that this move aims to create a safer environment for children to grow and thrive with support systems in place to protect their rights and interests.
The role of civil society organisations
Also from the civil society organisations, one of the members, Shuainu Musa Kafingana emphasized the importance of child budgeting, questioning how much is actually budgeted for children and how much is released.
He urged civil society organizations (CSOs) and the media to develop a position paper on how to effectively assist children, even as he too highlighed that prevention is indeed better than cure, saying by prioritising child-focused initiatives and scrutinising budget allocations, stakeholders can work together to create a safer and more supportive environment for children to thrive in their endeavors especially education.
More invaluable to this development, a particular civil society organisation has proposed a novel approach to ensuring effective utilisation of funds allocated for children in Jigawa.
Zainab Saleh, representing the CSO, suggested the development of a budget tracking template to monitor the releases and utilizations of funds by policymakers.
She also urged UNICEF to provide support to CSOs in this endeavor in order to enable them to effectively track and monitor budget implementation and ensure that resources are being used judiciously to benefit children in the state.
The dialogue session was convened to sensitise key stakeholders in Jigawa, particularly the Ministries of Health, Education, Agriculture, Water Resources and Women Affairs on the alarming situation of malnutrition in the state.
The dialogue aims to prompt sustainable measures to address this pressing issue, including monitoring the release and utilisation of funds allocated for nutrition and child welfare programmes.
By engaging these ministries, the initiative seeks to ensure that authorities take concrete actions to tackle malnutrition and improve the well-being of children in the state.