Government signs N2B deal with UNICEF

In the agreement, signed by Tambuwal and UNICEF's Chief of Field for Sokoto, Mr. Mohammad Mohiuddin, Sokoto government will contribute the sum of N1, 083,384,750 while UNICEF will provide the sum of N1, 006,865,500.

"The agreement has the following key objectives: improved access to, and use of high quality and high impact health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene interventions for women and children; and improving access to quality basic education by the most vulnerable boys and girls, and increased school retention, completion and achievement rates for all," the statement quoted Mohiuddin as saying.

According to Tambuwal’s spokesman, Imam Imam, both parties agreed that the status of the socio-demographic and development indicators carried out in Sokoto between 2013 and 2015 need to be improved upon.

"At the moment, both infant mortality and under-five mortality rates are high (89/1000 and 185/1000 respectively). 55.3% of children under five suffer from chronic malnutrition, 35% of under-five children are underweight, and 10.3% of under-five children are wasted, while exclusive breastfeeding for children 0-5months is only 10.3%.”

"In education, out of school children accounts for 66.83% of total school going children, net attendance ration at primary level is 39.8% for boys and 24.6% for girls, while gender parity index for primary level is 0.55," Mohiuddin added.

He said while there are proven interventions already on ground to address the challenges, what is required now is a strong government political commitment, release of financial resources and collaboration with development towards implementation of the work plan.

In his remarks, Tambuwal said his administration appreciates the need to turn around the negative statistics, and will work assiduously with UNICEF and other development partners to buck the trend.

"We have the political will, and determination, to get it right. We are confident that at the end of this agreement, substantial progress would be made. We will keep to our side of the bargain and we thank UNICEF for taking the leading in helping us in this direction," the Governor added.