By Hussaini Yero The Zamfara State Ministry of Budget and Planning on Wednesday organised a quarterly meeting of the State and Local Gov...
By Hussaini Yero
The Zamfara State Ministry of Budget and Planning on Wednesday organised a quarterly meeting of the State and Local Government Committee on Food and Nutrition in Gusau as part of efforts to improve access to nutritious food in communities across the state.
Speaking at the meeting, the Coordinator of the programme, Safiya Ibrahim, said the committee, in collaboration with the Ministry of Budget and Planning, brought together officials from the state and local governments to deliberate on strategies for improving nutrition, particularly for pregnant women and young children.
She explained that the meeting was aimed at strengthening efforts to tackle malnutrition among children across Zamfara State.
According to her, the committee is also leveraging the media to sensitise the public on the importance of consuming nutritious food for healthier communities.
The Acting Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Bashir Mai Lafiya Mada, said the initiative followed the Federal Government’s implementation of nutrition policies across the 774 local government areas in the country.
Mada noted that the Zamfara State Government had continued to support the health sector in its efforts to combat malnutrition across the state.
Also speaking, the Director of Food and Nutrition in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Abdurrazak Bashir, said the ministry was doing its best to provide nutritious food supplements for young children and pregnant women for up to six months.
He added that security personnel had been deployed as part of the programme to ensure that food supplies delivered to hospitals were protected from theft.
However, Bashir expressed concern over what he described as a lack of support from local government chairmen regarding the payment of a monthly contribution of one million naira toward the programme.
“For one year now, they have not contributed a single kobo,” he said.
The Zamfara State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Sanusi Yakubu, assured participants that the ministry remained committed to supporting efforts aimed at addressing malnutrition in the state.
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