Jigawa Govt. Approves ₦250m To Procure Therapeutic Food For Malnourished Children
By: Ahmed Aminu, Dutse
Governor Umar Namadi
Jigawa State Government has approved the release of ₦250 million as matching fund for the procurement of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) for malnourished children.
The procurement of the RUTF is being supported by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) to tackle cases of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) among children in the state.
The state Commissioner for Information, Youth, Sports and Culture, Hon. Sagir Ahmed Musa, disclosed this in Dutse while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting, chaired by Governor Umar Namadi on Tuesday.
Musa explained that the approval reaffirms the Namadi administration’s commitment to combating child malnutrition and improving child health outcomes across the state.
“This initiative underscores the administration’s dedication to addressing severe acute malnutrition among children under five and ensuring that no child in Jigawa is left behind in the fight against hunger and disease,” he stated.
He described the RUTF as a life-saving nutritional product used for community-based treatment of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
The Commissioner added that the intervention will scale up access to treatment for affected children in all parts of the state.
Musa said Governor Namadi remains resolute in delivering impactful health and nutrition programmes that target the most vulnerable groups, especially children, to reduce child mortality and enhance long-term health outcomes.
He added that the state government will continue to strengthen partnerships with international organizations and development partners to safeguard the well-being of every child and promote a healthier, more productive future for them.
Reacting on the development, the coordinator of the Jigawa state Civil Society Scaling-up of Nutrition (CS-SUNN), Comrade Shuaibu Musa Kafingana described the approval as good.
“The N250 million state government matching grant to UNICEF would automatically give Jigawa state RUTF commodity worth N500 million, which is a very substantial quantity of the product as the UNICEF would give the same amount as her matching grant, making it N500 million,” he said.
“Going by what happened today, the state government is doing very well terms of nutrition sensitive and nutrition specific. The effort would fully stocks over 77 Centers for Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) in the state. That would help to effectively treat the disease.”
