UNICEF
The United Nations Children’s Fund Chief of Field Bauchi, Mohammed Kamfut, has observed that the lack of adequate planning for children has brought the age bracket untold hardship, thus urging governments of the North-East to prioritise child-sensitive sectors.
Kamfut made this disclosure during his opening remarks at a two-day North-East Nigeria Zonal Policy Dialogue on Social Budgeting for Child-sensitive sectors, which held in Gombe.
reports that the engagement had participants, including commissioners, permanent secretaries, directors from Bauchi, Adamawa, Yobe, and Taraba, except Borno following its recent flood disaster.
The UNICEF Chief, who was represented by Yusuf Auta, the Social Policy Specialist who noted that in the past three decades, global efforts have consistently aimed at honouring commitments to children.
According to him, “this includes taking all necessary measures to safeguard and advance their rights, ensuring they have the resources to survive, develop, and thrive, as outlined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
“Since the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals at the turn of the Millennium, there has been remarkable progress in reducing poverty and enhancing the living conditions of millions of children and families.”
Kamfut stressed, “However, despite these advancements, many of the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged children continue to be left behind. Poverty infringes upon children’s human rights and perpetuates a relentless cycle of deprivation that is challenging to break without adequate support.
“It leads to numerous adverse outcomes for children, including hunger, malnutrition, poor health, and limited or no access to quality education and essential services. As children grow older and remain in poverty, the impact of these deprivations intensifies, further diminishing their opportunities to reach their full potential.
“Nigeria’s population is estimated at above 205.9 million, with 49.5 per cent (102 million) being children aged 0-17 years. Similar to many African countries, children in Nigeria are disproportionately affected by poverty due to their vulnerable status in society.
This has long-term repercussions on their well-being, extending into adulthood.
“Despite the global urgency to address poverty, children have often been overlooked in poverty reduction initiatives. It is my firm belief that this dialogue would effectively secure your commitment to domestic investment for children, system strengthening, capacity building and raising awareness about the deprived status of our children living in poverty taking the actions needed by all State and non-state actors to lift children out of poverty,” he further remarked.
Kamfut stressed, “Northeastern Nigeria, given the right policies and commitment, has huge resources to ensure children grow up free from poverty, deprivation, and exclusion.”
Declaring the workshop open, Gombe State Governor Muhammadu Yahaya, who was represented by Deputy Governor Dr Manassah Jatau, lauded UNICEF for prioritising children in the region.
Yahaya said, “At this point, I wish to most sincerely appreciate UNICEF Bauchi Field Office for not only selecting Gombe to host the Zonal Policy Dialogue, but rightly doing so on account of its equidistant nature from the other five states.
“The entire zone, and indeed, Nigeria will forever remain grateful for the tireless efforts and sacrifices in promoting children related issues.”
While underscoring the imperative of social budgeting child-sensitive sectors, Yahaya insisted that it is in the planning, mobilisation, allocation of resources, implementing and monitoring the utilisation of these resources to ensure that children with or without special needs are not denied their fundamental rights to education, health care, social protection, safety both physical and social-hunger, eating balanced diet to avoid stunted growth, and other unpleasant diseases associated with malnutrition.
“Even though we are talking about the children, children, and children, the challenge is actually on us, the leaders. This is on account of the fact that children are not in a position to prepare budget for themselves.
“If properly comprehended, accepted, and supported by political will, the social budgeting dialogue demands the increased public allocation and expenditure on and for children.
“Specifically, there is the compelling need to explore for increased public allocation and expenditure in the North-East geo-political zone of Nigeria. Create a budget code for social protection in budgets at all levels, and it must be linked to the Social Protection, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.”
During the panel discussion on accelerating public financing for children in Northeastern Nigeria, UNICEF’s Social Policy Specialist, Yusuf Auta, said, “When you have budget for education, nutrition, health you have child-sensitive budget. The first four Sustainable Development Goals address issues around children, and UNICEF is engaging with the government to ensure that the goals are achieved by supporting sector plans.”
On his part, UNICEF Communications Officer Opeyemi Olagunju explained that his organisation is collaborating with the six North-East states to ensure social budgeting for child-sensitive sectors for better public funds investment on children.
“In Gombe, UNICEF supported the establishment of Economic Intelligence Unit in the Ministry of Budget to support issues around children,” Olagunju added.
Commissioner for Budget Bauchi State, Aminu Hammayo, noted that “With the collaboration of UNICEF, the state has social protection policy, as such the state will ensure its implementation.”
On her part, the Gombe State Commissioner for Education, Dr Aishatu Maigari, disclosed that the state is already implementing the child-budget program, stressing that “We also focus on gender, persons with disability in Gombe State.”
