To tackle malnutrition, low immunization coverage, and poor access to basic social services for children, the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF has called for improved budgetary allocation, timely releases, proper implementation, and effective tracking of child-sensitive expenditures in Katsina State.
The Chief of UNICEF’s Kano Field Office, Mr. Rahama Farah, made the appeal during a stakeholders meeting and media dialogue on child-sensitive budgeting and planning held in Katsina.
He raised concerns over the inadequate funding and poor execution of budgetary provisions in critical child-focused sectors such as nutrition, health, education, and social protection.
Farah regretted that this trend has given rise to poor indices pertaining to the well-being and welfare of children, particularly child mortality, poor immunization coverage, child poverty, low school enrollment and malnutrition which leads to stunted growth among children.
“Katsina State’s population is estimated at 9.64 million, with children constituting about 4.5 million, yet one in six children in the state dies before celebrating their fifth birthday.
“Only 41% of children are fully immunized, leaving the majority vulnerable to preventable and life-threatening diseases while one-third of children constituting 33.3% are out of school at the primary education level.
“Seventy-five percent of them are multidimensionally poor, lacking access to essential services such as health, education, and adequate nutrition, while 61.2 percent live in monetary poverty, severely limiting their households’ capacity to meet basic needs.”
“Only 23.4% of children aged 6 to 23 months receive the minimum acceptable diet, as a result more than half of children under five are stunted, indicating chronic malnutrition with long-term consequences on health, learning, and productivity”, the UNICEF Chief said.
He also highlighted a decline in the budgetary allocation to the social sector in the state, from 38 percent in 2016 to 12 percent in 2020.
Farah said since children represent almost half of the state’s population, there is a pressing need to invest in their wellbeing through child-sensitive budgeting which would prioritize education, health, nutrition, and social protection.
“If we need to do something about these alarming social indicators, then the budget figures and implementation trend need to be reversed.
“Investing in children’s health, nutrition, education, protection, and participation is not charity, it is the most strategic investment Katsina State can make.
“It is an investment in the state’s future human capital, an investment to break cycles of poverty, build resilience, and secure lasting peace and prosperity.
The UNICEF Kano Chief therefore tasked CSOs and the media to track the budget lines in child-specific sectors to ensure efficiency, transparency and impact assessment while also providing feedback and recommendations to policy makers.
In his presentation, the Chairman Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in the state, Malam AbdurRahman Abdullahi, pointed out that CSOs in the state have always kept policy makers on their toes through close tracking of budgets for child-sensitive sectors.
“The whole idea behind our efforts is to have a budget that takes into cognizance the healthcare, education, nutrition and protection of children to enable them grow into healthy and responsible adults.
“This can only be achieved if the government prioritizes funding for child-specific issues, and at our level as CSOs we will continue to mount advocacy until this is fully achieved and sustained”, he said.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary, Katsina State Ministry of Budget and Planning, Alhaji Tijjani Umar, explained that the state government is conscious of the need for child-specific financing which promted key investments in education, immunization, nutrition, and Water Sanitation and Hygiene in the last two years.
He said the state government will continue to work with UNICEF and other development partners, as well as journalists and civil society organizations to improve key indices around the wellbeing of children in the state.
Isma’il Adamu
