Bauchi Assembly to probe N1b spent on nutrition as rate of malnourished children is on increase

Segun Babatunde Awofadeji, Bauchi

Apparently 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 Bauchi State, the State House of Assembly (BAHA),
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 a 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 surprised by the report of budgetry 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 overnight 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.

Meanwhile, 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.

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.

Checks 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 check 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 will 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.

Consequently, the State Committee on Food and Nutrition, Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination organized a 2-day advocacy and sensitization meeting with Members of the State House of Assembly on adequate budgetary Appropriation for nutrition interactions. END