Kano Government, UNICEF Invest Over N700m to Fight Malnutrition …..as Dangote Injects N1b
By Alex Uangbaoje, Kano
As part of measures to eradicate malnutrition among children under the age of five years in Kano state, the state government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), are injecting over seven hundred million naira in 2018.
Kano state government in collaboration with UNICEF had in 2017 spent the sum of N350 Million, as intervention against malnutrition amongst children under five years, which UNICEF provided the same amount as marching fund.
Another sum of N338 Million is also injected this year to counter the disturbing scourge of malnutrition in the state, of which UNICEF promises to also provide another marching fund for the same purpose.
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Kano State, Anwar Abba, in a statement said the state governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje disclosed this during an official launching of Kano State Comprehensive Modelling Project on Improvement of Diatery Diversity in Kano State, the first project of its kind in the country, at Africa House, Government House, Kano, Monday.
According to him, “we have all the kinds of food we need in our society for our consumption. All we need to do to run away from this health problem, is the knowledge of how to use such varieties. Which necessitates for awareness creation among our people.”
He urged all other stakeholders to join hands with government to save the situation, sayimg, “government is doing its best to continue liaising with all stakeholders, particularly our traditional leaders, development partners and others, so that we can checkmate the problem once and for all.”
Ganduje acknowledges that, “this problem is with us, it is within us, it is a problem that we can solve and we must solve it. That is why we need to put heads and hands together and fight the painful scourge of malnutrition. All we need is commitment, persistence, public enlightenment and diligence.”
The governor called for desired commitment and proper education on the problem, insisting that, “we must make sure that whatever development partners come up with, we take it and internalise it. Just in case they park and go, we must find ways to assure sustainability.”
Dangote Foundation according to the governor promised to provide the sum of over N1 Billion as intervention along that area of curbing malnutrition in the state.
In her remarks the UNICEF Zonal Officer, Katsina, Miss Zohra Nissi, said the choice of Kano for the project was deliberate, looking at the efforts the state is making these years in curbing the disease.
She added “This is a unique project which we are starting in Kano. As such the choice of Kano is deliberate. We choose Kano also because of the commitment of the state.”
Nissi revealed that, “We need multi-sectoral approach in dealing with this problem. The sum injected in this project is $750,000. We will provide all the necessary technical support for the project.”
The project started with Bichi and Sumaila as pilot local governments, which included traditional leaders who come from the areas. It was revealed that they started with the two local governments after sometime all other local governments would be included.
Dr Kabiru Ibrahim Getso, the state commissioner of health discloses that, “Malnutrition is a serious health challenge in developing countries. According to recent study stunting is in the increase. Which calls for serious action against it.”
He listed some efforts being put by the state government in curbing the problem. “That we did a special week programme recently, in which we included malnutrition screening. To tell you how serious we are in dealing with the problem.”
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