Over 89% of children in Jigawa multi-dimensionally poor – UNICEF
By: Ahmed Aminu, Dutse
Over 85.6% of children in Jigawa state are multi-dimensionally poor, the state General Household Survey indicated.
The report, which was unveiled in Dutse by the Chief of UNICEF Kano Field Office, Mr. Rahama Mohammed-Farah, indicated that 89.4 percent of children in the state have experienced monetary poverty.
Represented by Mr Micheal Banda, the UNICEF chief expressed the urgent need to save the affected children and make their lives better.
“It is a sobering reality that 89.4% of children in the Jigawa state experience monetary poverty, while 85.6% are multi dimensionally poor, facing deprivations in at least three critical areas, including Health, Education, Nutrition, Water Sanitation, Shelter, Access to Information, and Child Protection.
“These figures highlight the urgent need for collaborative action to reduce child poverty and improve the well-being of Jigawa’s children.”
He said UNICEF and its partners in the state have achieved a lot in strengthening systems for measuring child poverty, developing key policies and action plans, and building the capacity of government stakeholders.
According to him, local government chairmen have a pivotal role to play in shaping the discourse and actions needed to address child poverty in the state using evidence generated for multisectoral planning.
He said that this can be addressed by strengthening collective efforts and putting in place measures that will ensure utilisation of the data for each local government for planning and in decision-making, as well as in designing and implementing structured social protection interventions targeting poor and vulnerable children.
“Other measures are approval of the elaborated social protection policy, passage of the revised social protection bill into law, increased budgetary allocations for child-specific programming across social sectors using the available data particularly in Health, Education and Social Protection and Scaling up birth registration for children under five, with a target to increase the current rate by at least 30%”.
He congratulated Governor Umar and people of the state on the conclusion of the Jigawa General Household Survey disaggregated with estimates across the 27 Local Government Areas.
He said the impressive initiative reflects Jigawa State Government’s unwavering commitment to advancing the welfare of children and improving outcomes for the most vulnerable groups in communities, using data to make informed decisions.
“UNICEF Kano Field Office is proud of the strong partnership we share with the Jigawa State Government across multiple sectors, including Health, Education, Nutrition, WASH, Child Protection, and Social Protection.”
In his speech, Governor Namadi said his government will use the data gathered by the State Bureau for Statistics for a result-oriented and effective decision making.
He urged local councils, Ministries Departments and Agencies to obtain the document for proper implementation of government policies and programmes.
