By Tukur Muntari
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says it will support Kano state government to enroll 98,785 additional out-of-school children in 2020.
The UNICEF Chief Field Office, Kano, Mr Maulid Warfa disclosed this in Kano on Friday at a high level Committee meeting on the implementation of 2020 Unicef assisted programmes.
He said the Fund would provide the necessary support to ensure that the target children across the 44 local government areas were enrolled in primary schools.
According to him, a total of 1,696 primary school teachers would receive training with funding to be provided by the organisation.
The official added that 75 per cent of children aged 6-59 months in the state would receive vitamin A supplements in each of the two rounds of Maternal Newborn and Child Health Week (MNCHW).
Warfa said Kano state government was expected to release 243,128 U.S. dollars for the procurement of RUTF to treat a total of 68, 578 children of 5-59 months with severe acute malnutrition.
He said Unicef would focus on leveraging resources and partnership with a view to delivering better results.
“We will also focus on adolescent programming and robust engagement with youth, using existing platforms such as GenU, and U-Reporters, among others,” he said.
Warfa called on the state government to ensure prompt and timely release of counterparts funds for effective implementation of unicef supported programmes in the state.
Earlier, Secretary to Kano state government, Alhaji Usman Usman stressed the need for all development partners to prepare comprehensive reports on their activities and programmes so as to keep the state government abreast of the progress and challenges in the implementation of the programmes.
The SSG expressed concern over the failure of commissioners in relevant ministries to attend the meeting, said henceforth the state government would not take it lightly with any of them.
“The present administration under the leadership Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is keen on all the unicef programmes in the state.
“Even though there are their representatives, but that not withstanding, their presence at such meetings is very key here, “ the SSG said.
He assured that the state government would continue to honour its obligations by ensuring timely payment of counterpart funds.
Usman called on all stakeholders to be more committed in ensuring greater synergy between Unicef and the state government to enable the people benefit from the partnership.
News Agency of Nigeria reports that the meeting, attended by various stakeholders from across relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), was aimed at presenting the 2020 Unicef work plan as well as to discuss areas of greater concern for the realisation of the set objectives.
