Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has handed over climate resilient health and education facilities funded by the United Kingdom to the Kano State Government.
Speaking at a joint inauguration of the programme yesterday in Kano, the head of UNICEF office in Nigeria, Waffa Saeed, said the UK committed £19 million to develop the climate resilient health and education facilities in Nigeria.
She said the inauguration of the model facilities marked a significant milestone in demonstrating scalable, community-owned solutions to climate vulnerability that can be adopted by the federal and state governments.
According to her, “The Climate Resilient Infrastructure for Basic Services (CRIBS) initiative is a pioneering and innovative programme that is piloting a new approach to protect essential health and education services from the growing threats of climate change.
“Nigeria ranks second globally in climate-related risks to children, with millions affected annually by floods, droughts, and extreme heat.
“In response, the CRIBS approach has been developed to assess and strengthen 84 facilities, 39 primary healthcare centres and 45 schools in Kano and Jigawa State through targeted climate adaptation measures.”
Saeed stated that the project has been developed through a partnership of organisations and experts including the Federal Government of Nigeria, the UK Government, UNICEF, World Bank, World Health Organization, Sextant Foundation, JigSaw, Fab Inc, Crown Agent and UK Lafiya Programme.
Also, the Development Director Nigeria, British High Commission Abuja, Cynthia Rowe, said: “CRIBS demonstrates how climate-resilient infrastructure can improve access to basic services for vulnerable populations. We hope this model inspires broader replication across Nigeria,”
In his speech, the state Commissioner of Education, Dr. Haruna Makoda, commended the United Kingdom and UNICEF for coming to the aid of the state government in education and health sectors.
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