Secretary to Kano state government, Alhaji Usman Alhaji has charged nutritionists to produce locally processed baby food as complementary feeding, for healthy growth and development.
Alhaji Usman Alhaji made the call at the launch of the Kano state multiple indicator cluster survey 2021 (MICS), organized by UNICEF.
According to him, nutritionists have a vital role to play, by producing nutritious local food, and guiding mothers on how to feed their children at household and community levels.
The secretary to the state government, explained that, the relevance of establishing four new emirate councils in Kano ,cannot be over emphasized, as each emirate engage its citizens for health, education, nutrition, child and social protecting, empowerment, sanitation and other relevant indices to move the community forward.
“It is also good that there are representatives of different sectors of the society here, whose responsibility is to ensure that action is taken after the review,the figures should not gather dust, the bureau of statistics should make data available to the public”.
In his welcome address, Chief of UNICEF field office Kano, Mr. Rahama Rihood Mohammad Farah, explained that, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey is a household survey developed by UNICEF, to assist countries in filling data gaps for monitoring human development indicators in general and the situation of children and women.
Mr. Rahama who was represented by , Senior Education Specialist, UNICEF Field Office Kano Mr.Michel Banda, highlighted that, the MICS results 2021 revealed that Nigeria has made progress in some sectors, saying that child mortality decreased from 1 in 8 children dying before their fifth birthday to 1 in 10 children.
He stressed that, the information presented is specific to Kano State and should form the basis for developing various interventions as well as action plans.
He added that the data provided does not provide a causality-analysis but gives a general trend to weigh performance over the years.
“In education, about seven out of every ten children (68%) of the right primary school age children are attending school or higher, while about five out of every 10 (50%) of senior secondary school age are attending secondary school or higher”.
In his remarks, the Statistician General, Kano state Bureau of Statistics, Alhaji Baballe Ammani said the multiple indicator survey (MICS), is carried out after every five years, where Kano made progress in health, education , water and sanitation, but have not met the requirements in terms of nutrition and social protection.
He pointed out that, a stakeholders general meeting would be organized to identify gaps to proffer lasting solutions before the 2026 multiple indicator survey (MICS).
Also speaking, Emir of Karaye Alhaji Ibrahim Abubakar II, reiterated the emirate’s dedication in uplifting standards of living, through advocacy and public enlightenment, to achieve the desired objectives.
The emir, who was represented by Turakin Karaye Alhaji Abdullahi Aminu hinted that, Karaye emirate council had set up committees that oversee the affairs of citizens, on issues related to health, education, child and social protection, empowerment, water and sanitation among others.
Representatives from Rano emirate council, ministries of Education, Health, Budget and Planning as well as other ministries and departments provided their inputs, in addition to presentations on child protection, nutrition,WASH, empowerment and other relevant societal issues as captured by the MICS.
KHADIJAH ALIYU