By Philip Yatai

The Kaduna State Ministry for Local Government says it will ensure timely release of funds allocated for nutrition interventions at local government level.

Malam Ja’afaru Sani, the commissioner in the ministry, made the commitment when partners working to improve nutrition in the state visited him in his office in Kaduna.

Sani said that the move had become imperative in view of the disturbing indices of malnourished children in the state.

“We will ensure that all funds allocated for nutrition intervention in the 23 local government areas of the state are released as and when due.

“I will have a meeting with the LGA Chairmen tomorrow, and I will ensure that they release and cash back all funds allocated to address the scourge of malnutrition, particularly in rural areas.

“The ministry will equally ensure that Local Government Committee on Food and Nutrition holds the required quarterly meeting to review progress and challenges.

“In fact, we will include the implementation of nutrition programmes among key performance indicators for the LGA chairmen,” he said.

The commissioner thanked the partners for the visit and the passion to support the state government to effectively address preventable deaths of children under five years due to malnutrition.

Earlier, Malam Isah Ibrahim, Nutrition Advocacy Adviser, Save the Children International, informed the commissioner that funding had remained the greatest challenge in curbing malnutrition in the state.

Ibrahim said that the LGAs had three budget lines for nutrition interventions ranging between N10 million and N16 million in the 2019 budget.

He, however, said that so far, 13 LGAs were yet to release any money to carry out nutrition interventions, describing the development as ‘very disturbing’.

“We are concerned because more than 200 children have died of malnutrition in 2018 alone, and many more will continue to die if funds are not released to carry out curative and preventive measures.

“We, therefore, appeal for increased funding and timely release of the funds to carry out critical interventions to save children from dying of malnutrition.

“Also, the quarterly meeting of the local committee on food and nutrition and periodic meeting with the Director, Primary Healthcare, will promote accountability in the utilisation of nutrition funds,” he said.

Mr Abdulrahaman Mikail, Chairman, Sub-Committee on Finance and Fund Raising, Civil Society Scaling-Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), equally urged the ministry to capture nutrition programmes in the 2020 budget.

According to Mikail, the LGAs have developed an Annual Operation Plan for nutrition interventions, which should be captured in the budget.