The United Nations Children’s Fund has revealed that 73.9 per cent of children in Jigawa state are multi-dimensionally poor with the state ranking the highest in terms of poverty compared to other parts of the country.
This was revealed in the agency’s 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 6) conducted across the 27 local government areas of the state released on Friday.
Speaking at the launch of the report, the Chief of the UNICEF, Kano Field Office, Mr. Rahama Mohammed Farah, said the report was a source of concern as it showed the critical situation of children and how they would continue to live in the future.
Farah added that the high rate showed a striking reality that children’s rights in Jigawa state was not being fulfilled. “Most children in the state are deprived of their basic rights for survival, protection and development,” he said.
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The reports said about 65 per cent of the children in the North West of Nigeria are multi-dimensionally poor compared to children in other parts of the country.
The report, however, revealed that the state had made significant progress in some indicators such as child immunization coverage, which led to the reduction of under-5 mortality by 37 per cent.
Responding, the Commissioner of Finance and Economic Planning, Alhaji Babangida Umar, expressed concern over some of the outcomes of the survey.
Umar, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Budget and Economic Planning Directorate in the ministry, Aminu Adamu, said Gov Muhammad Badaru of the state had raised concern over the development.