Sokoto government and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF)
\nhave signed a N2billion agreement for the implementation of the 2016 work
\nplan in areas covering health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation and
\nhygiene.<\/p>\n
The work plan is aimed accelerating the realisation of the rights of all
\n“children and women to survival, development, protection and
\nparticipation,” said a statement issued by the spokesman of Governor Aminu
\nWaziri Tambuwal, Malam Imam Imam.<\/p>\n
In the agreement, signed by Tambuwal and UNICEF’s Chief of Field for
\nSokoto, Mr. Mohammad Mohiuddin, Sokoto government will contribute the sum
\nof N1,083,384,750 while UNICEF will provide the sum of N1,006,865,500.<\/p>\n
“The agreement has the following key objectives: improved access to, and
\nuse of high quality and high impact health, nutrition, water, sanitation
\nand hygiene interventions for women and children; and improving access to
\nquality basic education by the most vulnerable boys and girls, and
\nincreased school retention, completion and achievement rates for all,” the
\nstatement quoted Mohiuddin as saying.<\/p>\n
Both parties agreed that the status of the socio-demographic and
\ndevelopment indicators carried out in Sokoto between 2013 and 2015 need to
\nbe improved upon.<\/p>\n
“At the moment, both infant mortality and under-five mortality rates are
\nhigh (89\/1000 and 185\/1000 respectively). 55.3% of children under five
\nsuffer from chronic malnutrition, 35% of under-five children are
\nunderweight, 10.3% of under-five children are wasted, while exclusive
\nbreastfeeding for children 0-5months is only 10.3%.<\/p>\n
“In education, out of school children accounts for 66.83% of total school
\ngoing children, net attendance ration at primary level is 39.8% for boys
\nand 24.6% for girls, while gender parity index for primary level is 0.55,”
\nMohiuddin added.<\/p>\n
He said while there are proven interventions already on ground to address
\nthe challenges, what is required now is a strong government political
\ncommitment, release of financial resources and collaboration with
\ndevelopment partment towards implementation of the work plan.<\/p>\n
In his remarks, Tambuwal said his administration appreciates the need to
\nturn around the negative statistics, and will work assiduously with UNICEF
\nand other development partners to bulk the trend.<\/p>\n
“We have the political will, and determination, to get it right. We are
\nconfident that at the end of this agreement, substantial progress would be
\nmade. We will keep to our side of the bargain and we thank UNICEF for
\ntaking the leading in helping us in this direction,” the Governor added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sokoto government and the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) have signed a N2billion agreement for the implementation of the 2016 work plan in areas covering health, nutrition, education, water,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n