Bauchi Assembly Worry Over Number Of Malnourished Chidren

….Orders investigation on N1billion spent on child nutrition

Bauchi State House of Assembly has express worry over the number of malnourished children in the State, saying that despite the release of funds to scale up nutrition, it has not translated into reduction of malnourished children.

The Members made this known during a 2-day advocacy and sensitization meeting on adequate budgetary Appropriation for Nutritional Interventions held at the Elim Hotel and Suite Plateau State.

The meeting was organised by the State Committee on Food and Nutrition, Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination with support by UNICEF, organized a on adequate budgetry Appropriation for nutrition interactions.

Speaking on behalf of the State Assembly, the Speaker, Hon Abubakar Y Suleiman ordered a thorough investigation on the expenditure of over N1bilion on food and nutrition for children,stressing that the government will not rest on its oars until the ugly situation is reversed.

“I am surprised that despite the fact that the release of funds was almost 100 percent in the previous years, there have been no significant improvements in the number of malnourished children’

“This is worrisome, something is wrong somewhere. Honourable Members, with your permission, I want to suggest that the House Committee on Food and Nutrition embark on overnight function to find out what went wrong.”

“It is surprising that going by the report of budgetry allocation for nutrition, it has not changed the narrative, what then is the problem leading to the increase in number of malnutrished children in the state?” he said

Speaking earlier, in a goodwill message, the Chief of Bauchi Field Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF Dr. Nuzhat Rafique stated that UNICEF has been a partner to Bauchi state in addressing malnutrition through enhanced nutrition financing.

She noted that the UNICEF provides both technical and financial assistance to strengthen policies, improve service delivery and ensure the availability of essential nutrition commodities, including ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) and multiple micronutrients supplements (mms).

Dr. Rafique who commended the Bauchi state government for the continued collaboration, said without children, no future of any given society is guaranteed.

She recalled that in the last five years, there has been 2.9 percent increase in severe acute malnutrition and 7 percent increase in moderate malnutrition in Bauchi state, adding that action must be taken to curb the trend by expanding the investment in nutrition to save the children.

The UNICEF Chief of Field Office Bauchi stated that proactive steps must be taken to improve nutrition financing, stressing that the meeting will provide the opportunity for the stakeholders to discuss and commit to actionable strategies to increase funding.

All the 31 Members of the House at the meeting unanimously agreed and directed the Committee on Food and Nutrition to dig deep to find out the missing link.