The United Nations Children’s Fund is collaborating with northeastern governors to address the daily growth of Nigerian children living in poverty.
Speaking at the Northeast East Zonal Policy Dialogue on Social Budgeting for Children in Gombe, UNICEF Chief of Field Office Bauchi, Mr Muhammed Kamfut, urged regional governors to increase funding for children’s development.
Commissioners of budget in the six states that are made up of the northeast gathered to address issues.
The dialogue meeting initiated by UNICEF is aiming to support and advocate for children’s well-being and rights, with a focus on social budgeting for child-sensitive sectors in the 2025 budgets of Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, and Borno states.
Declaring the two days workshop open the UNICEF Chief of Field Office Bauchi Mr. Muhammed Kamfut raised concern over poverty rate among children calling on governors and other stakeholders in the region to address it through policy.
He is optimistic that at the end of the dialogue, all actors will contribute immensely to the full realisation of children’s rights through, among other things, the improved budgeting and funding of child responsive interventions which will alleviate poverty which is a major barrier to realizing the rights of all children.
The Deputy Governor of Gombe State, Manasseh Jatau, emphasised that leaders have a responsibility to ensure children’s well-being, as they cannot prepare budgets for themselves.
He encouraged the meeting to come up with resolutions to change the negative trend of poverty and deprivation for children across the six states.
The home grown terrorist Boko Haram, banditry, all other social vices contributed to high level of poverty in the northeast Nigeria.
Invariably these factors affected the school enrolment in which the six governors in the region are working modality with UNICEF to address all the social vires contributing increase in poverty among children.
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