Francis Sardauna in Katsina 

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has urged the Katsina State Government to allocate specific budgets for children in health, education and nutrition to tackle the myriad of challenges bedeviling them.

The Chief of UNICEF Field Office Kano, Mr. Rahama Farah, made the call Tuesday at a media dialogue on child-sensitive budgeting and planning held at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Katsina.

He stressed that children’s specific needs are often subsumed within larger sectoral budgets of the state government, thereby making tracking and accountability strenuous.

He decried that the government’s approved social sector budget has continued to decline, from 38.57 per cent in 2016 to 12.98 per cent in 2020, hence the need for improved budgeting for children in the state.

He explained that 75.5 per cent of children in Katsina State are multidimensionally poor and lack access to essential services such as health, education and nutrition.

He said one in six children in the state die before celebrating their fifth birthday, a stark reminder of the urgent need to strengthen child survival interventions.

He said failure to adequately invest in children has devastating long-term consequences, adding that children without protection are at higher risk of exploitation, violence and recruitment by criminal elements. 

Farah said: “Only 41 per cent of children are fully immunised, leaving the majority vulnerable to preventable and life-threatening diseases.

“Three in four children (75.5%) in Katsina are multidimensionally poor, lacking access to essential services such as health, education and adequate nutrition.

“Over six in 10 children (61.2%) live in monetary poverty, severely limiting household capacity to meet their basic needs.

“One-third of children (33.3%) are out of school at the primary level, undermining the state’s future human capital and economic growth.”

He added that: “Only 23.4 per cent of children aged 6–23 months receive the minimum acceptable diet, a major barrier to healthy growth and brain development.

“More than half (51.3%) of children under five are stunted, indicating chronic malnutrition with long-term consequences on health, learning, and productivity.”

The UNICEF Chief said the budgeting and planning of the state must capture the basic and specific needs of children to address the alarming social indicators in the state.

He noted that children represent over half of Katsina’s population and investing in their health, nutrition, education and protection “is not charity; it is the most strategic investment Katsina State can make”.

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