Bauchi Assembly, LG chairmen, stakeholders raise alarm over malnutrition among children

Segun Awofadeji, Bauchi

The need for Bauchi State Government to take immediate action in order to save lives of innocent children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) has become imperative considering the number of children that are already on reline. And call for the government for the release of Matching Fund for Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) is on the rise,writes Segun Awofadeji.

Malnutrition is a major issue in Northern Nigeria, with Bauchi among the states in the region having the highest rates of stunting (low height for age).

Wasting (low weight for height) is also a concern, with the North-East and North-West regions having approximately twice the prevalence compared to other areas.

Stunting is a result of chronic undernutrition, often linked to poverty, poor maternal health, and inadequate feeding practices, while wasting is a sign of acute malnutrition, indicating recent and severe food shortage or illness.

Malnutrition remains a challenge in Bauchi State, with 54.2% of children under five stunted, adding to the nation’s burden.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has expressed concern over the overwhelming surge of malnutrition cases in the state, which puts many children at risk of death.

Checks revealed that the children at the Local Government Area level, at unit level and even visits to the primary healthcare facilities, nutrition services and the data on the children are very worrying.

Investigation also revealed that every girl child in the state is severely malnourished with

“Out of 10, three children are severely malnourished and about six are moderately malnourished and can go into severe malnourishment any times.

Recently,as part of efforts to bring the issue of Malnutrition to the front burner, Bauchi State which remains one of the States with a high burden of malnutrition, with an increasing of stunting among children Under-Five years old, which raises significant concern,a meeting was organized for Members of the Bauchi State House of Assembly(BAHA) by the State Committee on Food and Nutrition, Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on the adequate budgetary allocation and release for nutrition and other PHC

cases.

The two – day Advocacy and Sensitization meeting held at Elim Top Suites in Jos, Plateau State addressed the lawmakers on Adequate budgetary Appropriation for Nutrition Intervention in the state.

In a communique signed and issued by all Thirty-one Members of the Assembly the meeting acknowledged cases of malnutrition, especially among children, are on the rise despite various government initiatives.

It further observed there is a pressing need to increase budgetary allocations for nutrition programming within the state, while the government has made commendable efforts in expanding the health workforce, more personnel are needed, particularly in nutrition programming.

It was also observed that public awareness regarding nutrition remains low and needs to be significantly improved just as Water and sanitation concerns, such as the need to upgrade open wells by providing covers and raising their surfaces, require urgent attention.

There is also a need for a dedicated Department of Nutrition Services within the State Primary Health Care Board (SPHCB) to ensure better coordination of nutrition-related efforts.

Further, Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) involved in nutrition-sensitive and specific interventions should be tracked to ensure that allocated budgets are released timely and efficiently utilized.

Members across Constituencies with malnourished children should facilitate the production and distribution of Tom Brown Diet to help combat malnutrition.

The meeting then resolved and committed to address the identified challenges as the State Committee on Food Security and Nutrition, and the House Committee on Public Accounts with immediate effect to commence investigation on RUTF funds meant for the malnourished children in the state according to the state budget performance report of 2024, and report to the House.

The House Committee on Food Security and Nutrition, House Committee on Health

and House Committee on Appropriation are to work with relevant House Committees on the creation of a budget line for Nutrition activities across relevant MDAs and also increase the budgetary provision for Nutrition activities general in the state.

The House Committee on Public Service should liaise with development partners to ensure necessary legislation on the extension of paid maternity leave from three to six months with a view to giving our nursing mothers adequate time to exclusively breastfeed their children.

The House Committee on Local Government Affairs to liaise with the Hon Commissioner of Local Government Affairs for the establishment of a joint

committee of representatives of the House and the Chairmen of Local Government Councils where regular monitoring, supervision, and discussions with a view to mobilize additional, adequate and effective funding of nutrition activities in the state.

The House Committee on Local Government Affairs to ensure the creation of nutrition budget line across 20 LGAs of the state.

The House Committees on Local Government Affairs, Food security and Nutrition and Health to liaise with the Hon Commissioner of Local Government Affairs to follow up with Local Government Chairmen on procurement of functional hemoglobin testing machines across Primary Health Care facilities without functional hemoglobin machines.

The meeting also recommended that the State Government should contribute to the Child Nutrition Fund, which will be

sourced from budget allocations, individuals and private sector contributions.

Also, the Ministry of Health should work closely with the Ministry of Finance and Budget, Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination to ensure that nutrition allocations are ring-fenced and protected from budget cuts.

There should be regular monitoring and reporting mechanisms to assess the impact of nutrition financing on reducing malnutrition rates in the state.

Community-based initiatives, such as the production and distribution of locally made complementary foods, should be expanded to reach vulnerable households.

Increased advocacy and sensitization efforts are needed to encourage household and community-level nutrition practices that promote child health and development.

In her addressing at the meeting, the Chief of Bauchi Field Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Dr. Nuzhat Rafique called on the lawmakers to commit themselves to make child Nutrition funding part of their constituency project in order to address the problem of malnutrition in children in the state.

She said that the child Nutrition Fund is an initiative designed to support government efforts in some countries that carry the highest number of children suffering from the problem of malnutrition, adding that Nigeria is one of the countries where there are high number of malnourished children  because of its  large population.

Nuzhat Rafique stated that the fund (UNICEF) has been a partner to Bauchi state in addressing malnutrition through enhanced nutrition financing.

She explained 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, saying 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 stressed that proactive steps must be taken to improve nutrition financing, noting that the meeting provides the opportunity for the stakeholders to discuss and commit to actionable strategies to increase funding.

According to her, Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) is an initiative that give state governments in the country the ownership of funding nutrition through a counterpart funding to match UNICEF contribution in the same sum to the basket fund.

‘If you put N100 million, we will match N100 million, so N200 million will reach the children.We work on prevention, cure and rehabilitation of the children under nutrition to help set up a society where no child should suffer from malnutrition.Children suffering so much from malnutrition can be rehabilitated, so this is so sensitive and I will like all of you to feel from the heart.You have to be fathers to children in your constituencies, literally this is your accountability’

“So the most important thing is to start thinking of how much you can commit.So what I suggest if I was in your place, with the support from UNICEF, you can identify in your constituencies where the highest number of malnourished children are.You should go around and see things for yourself, we have the data for bauchi state and it is one of the worst state suffering from malnutrition”

However,the the Speaker of the State House of Assembly (BAHA), Rt. Hon Abubakar Sulaiman assured of finding a way to making provision for nutrition in the 2025 budget despite been passed and signed into law.

The Speaker in his remarks while declaring the meeting open

described nutrition as very important, which if not taken care of, will affect the lives of the children, lamenting that the meeting came late and at a time the 2025 budget has been passed and signed into law by the Governor.

According to him, “I was discussing with the deputy speaker that this program should have come before the passage of the 2025 budget, which would have been an avenue for us to discuss so many issues surrounding malnutrition and then include it in the 2025 budget”, he said.

“Unfortunately the 2025 budget has already been passed, but that notwithstanding, as members of the house of assembly who have the responsibility of passing the budget, we will definitely see what we can do to ensure that what we are going to discuss here is reflected in the budget, we have a legal way of doing that, and in Sha Allahu we will do something about that”, he assured.

Rt. Hon Sulaiman who commended the House members for attending the meeting, assured UNICEF that the assembly is committed to policies that would improve the living standard of children.

Speaker Sulaiman said, to show commitment to issue of nutrition, Bauchi state assembly under his speakership has constituted a standing committee on nutrition and food security chaired by a member who has concerns for nutrition unlike before when there was none.

According to him, the committee which comprises of committee chairmen on agriculture, health and appropriation as members, indicated the seriousness of the assembly regarding nutrition.

“We want to assure UNICEF and other partners that Bauchi state Assembly is fully committed to ensuring that our children are free from malnutrition. I commend the ministry of budget and economic planning and UNICEF for initiating this important meeting for the members of the state Assembly as representatives of the people at the grassroot to discuss about nutrition”, the Speaker disclosed.

In the same vein, immediately after the lawmakers meeting, another  advocacy and sensitisation engagement was held with all the 20 Local Government Chairmen in the state on leveraging on resources to support food security and nutrition in the state.

The meeting was organised by the Bauchi State Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning, and Multilateral Coordination with support from UNICEF.

The UN agency expressed concern over the overwhelming surge of malnutrition cases in the state, which puts many children at risk of death, lamenting that the state contributes an alarming over 54, 000 cases of malnourished children to the nation’s burden.

“I am here to give a goodwill message which is not very good,” Rafique, who overseas Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Plateau, and Taraba States, stated.

“I have worked with UNICEF in 11 countries already and Nigeria is my 12th country

“When I look at the situation of children, especially in Bauchi, I have been to all five states, I have seen the children at the LGA level, at unit level and then to the primary healthcare facilities, nutrition services and the data on the children are very worrying.

“In Bauchi alone we are contributing about 54,000 children who are malnourished.

The UNICEF CFO disclosed that every girl child in Bauchi State is severely malnourished out of 10

“Out of 10, three children are severely malnourished and about six are moderately malnourished and can go into severe malnourishment anytime,” she warned.

Rafique opined that it was a source of concern that despite data and efforts of resource persons explaining the severity of malnutrition in Bauchi State, the situation was not improving

“I see that 20 LGAs out of 20 have children with zero dose,” she lamented.

“Not only that there are abundance of children with poor nutrition, but they are not also reached by  the health system, they have never been given any vaccination so they can have some immunity to resist diseases, which makes malnourished children even vulnerable to very serious illnesses like polio.

“Even if the children do not have active polio now, the risk always stays there if they are not properly vaccinated.”

Rafique said she is fond of the leadership of Governor Bala Mohammed in the state, the dedication of the health Commissioner, the Chairmen of the Association of Local Government Chairmen in the state (ALGON), the Director of Primary Health Care among others.

However, she noted, when it comes to the communities, their culture and practices, the LGA Chairmen are the backbone of the state.

“You people (Chairmen) are the leaders in the LGAs that can make or break the LGAs,” she observed.

“If there is an LGA that does not have any zero dose child, I would say that that is the real leadership of the Chairman, of the Deputy Chairman and others who are part of their team, because they are reaching their people, they are caring for their people and working for their people.

“The evidence says there is no child unreached and these are few LGAs here doing that. I would request my team to share the names of the LGAs who have no zero dose child as an example of success and the rest of the LGAs can learn from them of how they achieved it”

She urged the LGA Chairmen, through their leadership should ensure that every LGA achieves the level of no child zero does, that every child is vaccinated.

Rafique appealed to the LGA Chairmen to ensure that every mother is well nourished so she can give birth to healthy, normal and nourished child.

“This is something we are going to embark upon in this meeting, realising where we are and what is to achieve in 2025 and 2026,” she said

“We are with you, UNICEF is always with mothers and children and the stakeholders, leaders and the people who are the right holders for them supposed to give them this right of health, nutrition, survival and development.

In a remark, Chairman of Bauchi Local Government, Hon Mahmood Babamaji, described the malnutrition figures as alarming, linking the crisis to the country’s economic challenges.

Mahmood Babamaji, who also serves as the State Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) urged the Federal Government to prioritise policies that enhance citizens’ welfare.

He noted that such measures would alleviate hardship, enabling parents to adequately provide nutritious food for their families.

Resource persons at the meeting presented papers highlighting the state’s malnutrition and child poverty levels, while advocating responsible budgetary allocations for nutrition-focused interventions.

However, the State House of Assembly is worried that despite the expenditure of over N1 billion on food and nutrition for children,the rate of Malnourished children is on the increase in the state, and has resolved that there must be a thorough investigation on the expenditure.

The members also expressed deep concern over the report that release of funds was almost 100 percent in previous years, yet no significant improvements in the number of malnourished children.

The Members reached the consensus during the 2-day advocacy and sensitisation meeting on adequate budgetary appropriation for nutrition intervention for children.

The Members led by the Speaker, Rt. Hon Abubakar Y Suleiman who also led the discussions expressed surprise by the report of budgetary allocation for nutrition wondering what then is the problem leading to the increase in number of malnourished children in the state.

According to the speaker , “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 oversight function to find out what went wrong.”

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.

Therefore,the need for Bauchi State Government to take immediate action in order to save lives of innocent children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) has become imperative considering the number of children that are already on reline.

Our investigations revealed that almost all of the CMA centers in the State have closed down due to stock out of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) needed for the treatment of SAM.

Our Correspondent who visited some Primary Health Care centers in the state capital and Toro Local Government Area of the state reported the unavailability of RUTF in the centers.

Checks also revealed that the last time the State procured RUTF was in 2023 when USAID-IHP donated some consignment to the State during its closeout.

Further checks revealed that Bauchi State is leading in the North East subregion in terms of malnourished children considering the various official figures available.

Though the State Governor, Senator Bala Abdukadir Mohammed promised to release counterpart funding to procure the commodity when Ambassador Kate Henshaw visited the State earlier in 2024, the money has not been released.

The State is also expected to draw from the global Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) which doubles whatever amount contributed.

Experts who spoke on the situation expressed fear that unless something urgent was done to salvage the situation, children who are already on the redline may begin to die.

The Experts are of the opinion that the government must not wait further in releasing counterpart funds in order to access the CNF facility which is available globally.

Reports revealed that Bauchi State is the only State yet to access the CNF facility in the Bauchi Field Office of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba and Plateau States have all made their contributions and access the CNF.

In her reaction,the Chief of Bauchi Field Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Dr. Nuzhat Rafique stated that  “Bauchi is one of the state where the indicators are very bad.Overall, if you see that malnutrition in itself is an Indication of multiple problems.

According to her,  “We already have 6 out of every 10 as moderately malnourished, so you can see that moderate malnutrition means that they can go into the state of severe acute malnutrition anytime and it becomes so difficult to retrieve that.So at moderate malnutrition which is more than 50 percent of children suffering in Bauchi. If we are not able to bring them back into the normal nutrition status, they will go and the ones suffering from the severe acute malnutrition will die.

“So,we are literally pushing our children towards death by not contributing towards the CNF because this is extremely sensitive and critical for the children of Bauchi.We have these nutrition supplies and Nutrition programmes and I think this is an opportunity to beg honestly to the government of Bauchi to do something for these children and contribute towards the fund.

“For example, in 2024,  N2.1 billion was allocated for RUTF, can you imagine that if that N2.1 billion was given for the matching grant, imagine what N2,1 billion could have done, if the RUTF was bought, it could have treated 10,000 children in Bauchi State out of  the 34,000 children who need this support. If they had given us that money for the CNF, this N4.2 billion could  have saved the lives of 20,000 children who are at risk.We could have doubled the amount of RUTF and the number of children saved.Now this is how critical this issue is but we don’t know how the N2.1 billion was spent”.

Child Nutrition Fund(CNF).You know Child Nutrition fund is a very beautiful scheme that is managed by UNICEF and the donors are UK government, Bill and Melinda gates and Child Investment Foundation Fund. So these are the partners who joined hands together and made this CNF and then some states for example like Gombe gave N160 million, UNICEF then matched that grant to the CNF and had more than N300 million which we were able purchase the RUTF for them, many of the children in the PHCs are receiving the RUTF now.

Rafique said she is fond of the leadership of Governor Bala Mohammed in the state, the dedication of the health Commissioner, the Chairmen of the Association of Local Government Chairmen in the state (ALGON), the Director of Primary Health Care Board .

Also reacting over the development, Executive Chairman of Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Board (BSPHCB), Dr Rilwanu Mohammed has assured that the government will soon release the matching fund to enable it access the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF) initiatives.

Our Correspondent reports that the CNF which is in the custody of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), is aimed at assisting government procure the required nutrients and foods needed to prevent and fight malnutrition in children U-5.

Bauchi State, which is one of focal States in Bauchi Field Office of UNICEF has been dragging feet in releasing the matching fund for 2 years since the introduction of the fund thereby increasing rate of Severe Acute Malnutrition malnutrition(SAM) in U-5 children across the State.

According to Rilwanu Mohammed, “It is not that we refused to do something about it, nor the Governor refused to approve the matching fund. We are in the process of preparing the memo, very soon, it will be presented to the Governor for approval.”

He also said that, “UNICEF has sent a letter to the effect to us and we are working on it. They told us that if we give N100m they will give N200m, it will be joined together to procure the required food nutrients. We will give the N100m and they will give N200m, that is the contents of the letter, we still have it.”

The Executive Chairman added that,”Other States in the Bauchi Field Office of UNICEF, Adamawa, Gombe, Plateau and Taraba have paid except our own. It was me that has not written the memo, not that the Governor refused to pay. Now, I am writing, I have proposed a bill which I am going to send to the Governor as soon as he comes back, for approval.”

According to him,”For now, there is no cause for alarm, we are doing our work normally, we are planning for the MNCHW, everything is in place, the Committee sat last Monday with the Deputy Governor as the Chairman of the Multisectoral approach to Nutrition, we have decided what to do, that is just one of the issues, there are many others.”

Rilwanu Mohammed added that,”There is the issue of Vitamin A supplementation, deworming of children and others which we are going to tackle. Now we have 54 CMA centers, they were 33 before, we added 19, we are going to start work in these places. We are receiving 100,000 cartons of RUTF from Abuja but we are to do a training before the distribution.”

On the issue of MMS, he said that,”There are about 316,000 tins of MMS which we are going to utilize during the MNCHW, to be distributed to all pregnant women to prevent ameania in pregnancy.”

“Everything is on cause, we will not sit and Wath our children die, we are fully prepared to act. We have a budget line which will be attached to the memo for the approval of the N100m, we cannot write to the Governor without making reference to the budget line, it will not work, we have N150m in the budget, we are removing N100m from it, the Local Government Funds. We are almost there, we have started the work,” he added.

Recall that the Chief of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Dr Nuzhat Rafique had raised concerns over the inability of the state to release the matching fund in the face of rising cases of severe acute malnutrition in U-5 children across the State which stands at over 54,000 victims. END