By Usman Gwadabe
The chairman of Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Jigawa State branch, Alhaji Aminu Sani has assured that his colleagues will continue to sustain Masaki Project innovated by the state to improve malnutrition among the children.
The chairman stated this during a one-day Advocacy meeting with Nutrition Stakeholders and Local Government Chairmen in Jigawa State organised by Aisha Buhari Foundation in collaboration with the state Primary Health Care Development Agency titled: ‘Uniting To End Childhood Malnutrition in Jigawa State,’ held in Kano yesterday.
According to him, since before this collaboration, the state and local governments spent huge amount of money to address the menace, stressing that the commitment was the reason for Masaki Project Innovation.
The chairman revealed that every month, all the councils contribute N250, 000 for the purpose, adding that the state government, in the last three years was spendin about N100 million yearly for malnutrition.
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary, Jigawa State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Kabiru Ibrahim Aliyu, said the statistic of malnutrition across the country, especially Northern part, is very poor, even though there were some merging improvements considering the matter in the last 10 years.
He said government at all levels in the state were doing their best to address the issue, stressing that children that are malnourished are likely to suffer failure in cognitive function which may lead to negative thinking, adding that they may not realise their potentials.
He added that malnutrition is one of the factors causing insurgency in the country, adding that malnutrition is now a global agenda for securing nations.
The Executive Secretary said the aim of the meeting was to have collaboration between the state and partners in order to improve nutrition at grassroots and for the children to have a better life.
He revealed that the state has innovated a home grown project titled ‘Masaki’ whereby rural women were engaged and trained in developing nutrition through locally available elements.
Representative of Aisha Buhari Foundation, Omole Ukwedeh said the body organised the meeting to appeal to the local government chairmen in the state to continue with the Masaki project, lamenting that COVID-19 has caused many families to suffer with malnutrition menace.
