Katsina State governor, Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, has pledged to include N1.2 billion in the state’s 2027 budget to strengthen nutrition interventions under the Child Nutrition Fund.
The proposed funding, which is expected to be matched by UNICEF, will support the procurement of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements for pregnant women and therapeutic food for children under five suffering from severe wasting.
Governor Radda made the commitment recently when the new Chief of UNICEF Field Office, Kano, Mr Shafeeq Ur-Rehman, led a delegation on a courtesy visit to the Katsina State Government House.
The governor also approved the immediate release of N500 million counterpart funding for the Child Nutrition Fund, saying his administration was committed to improving nutrition, healthcare and other key development indicators in the state.
Radda said the long-standing partnership between Katsina State and UNICEF had yielded encouraging results, particularly in the fight against child malnutrition.
“We have been working closely with UNICEF over the years and we are encouraged by the results we are seeing,” he said.
According to him, the partnership had supported the establishment of stabilisation centres and outpatient treatment sites for children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, resulting in a decline in the number of children requiring treatment at the facilities.
The governor assured UNICEF that the state would continue to meet its responsibilities in interventions aimed at improving the wellbeing of residents.
“We are not doing it for you; we are doing it for our people,” Radda said.
He added that his administration was determined to leave Katsina with improved development indicators at the end of his tenure.
“When I was a student, I always aimed to be at the top, and that’s where I want to leave Katsina State indicators by the time I am leaving office,” he said.
Earlier, the UNICEF Chief of Field Office in Kano, Shafeeq Ur-Rehman, commended the Katsina State Government for sustaining its partnership with the organisation in healthcare, nutrition, education, sanitation, child protection and social development.
Ur-Rehman said Katsina was among the few states in Nigeria that had consistently contributed to the Child Nutrition Fund.
He explained that the Fund had supported the procurement of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food and other essential nutrition commodities for children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
He, therefore, requested increased government investment in nutrition, including N1.2 billion under the Child Nutrition Fund, which UNICEF would match.
According to him, the additional funding would support the procurement of Multiple Micronutrient Supplements for pregnant women and therapeutic food for children under five suffering from severe wasting.
The UNICEF official also disclosed that Katsina was one of the states participating in a global pilot of revised World Health Organisation guidelines for the prevention and management of severe wasting in children.
He said Nigeria was one of five countries selected globally for the pilot, which is currently being implemented in 10 local government areas of Katsina State.
“Katsina’s participation in this pilot is important because the lessons from here will not only contribute to nutrition programming in Nigeria but will also provide useful evidence for the global response to child malnutrition,” he said.
Ur-Rehman said UNICEF’s partnership with the state had contributed to improved primary healthcare services, particularly in rural and underserved communities.
He noted that full routine immunisation coverage had more than doubled, while under-five mortality had declined significantly compared with figures contained in the 2018 National Demographic and Health Survey.
The UNICEF official also congratulated Katsina for becoming the second state in Nigeria to attain Open Defecation Free status in 2025.
He urged the government to sustain the achievement through continued investment in sanitation facilities and measures to prevent communities from reverting to open defecation.
He further briefed the governor on the Climate-Resilient Infrastructure for Basic Services II project, funded by the UK government through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The project is being implemented across 14 sites in Charanchi, Mani, Dutsinma and Mashi Local Government Areas, providing climate-resilient water and sanitation facilities in nine schools and five primary healthcare centres.
Education, child protection
On education, Governor Radda disclosed that his administration had recruited more than 9,000 teachers and invested in teacher training, including a recent Training of Trainers programme involving 250 participants.
The UNICEF official acknowledged the state government’s efforts to expand basic education access for girls, Almajiri learners, children with disabilities and other marginalised groups.
He, however, called for accelerated implementation of the Katsina State Education Sector Plan 2026–2033 to address the estimated 536,122 out-of-school children in the state.
Ur-Rehman said birth registration coverage in Katsina had reached 68 per cent, the highest among the three states covered by the UNICEF Kano Field Office.
He also disclosed that more than 604,925 households had been captured in the state’s social register, providing a platform for identifying and supporting poor and vulnerable households.
The UNICEF chief particularly commended Katsina for becoming the first and only state in Nigeria so far to appropriate N270 million for a SMART Nutrition Survey.
He said UNICEF was ready to work with the state on the Rapid SMART/SMART+ Nutrition Survey, which would provide reliable data for identifying vulnerable communities, guiding resource allocation and improving nutrition interventions for women and children.
