Bauchi gov directs immediate refund of N15m to UNICEF

Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed has approved the immediate refund of the sum of N15 million to the UNICEF Field Office in Bauchi being money given but not utilised by the immediate past administration in the state.

The Governor gave the express approval for the refund during an interactive session with UNICEF officials led by the Chief Field Officer, Mr Bhanu Pathak at the Council Chamber, Government House Bauchi.

Senator Bala Mohammed was responding to a request made by the UNICEF on the need for the state government to refund the money for not utilising it by the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency during the last administration.

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The Governor condemned the previous administration in the state for spending N732 million unaccountable due to poor documentation, saying that the State Recovery Committee will be directed to recover the funds.

He assured UNICEF of his administration’s determination towards the timely payment of counterpart funding to enable the state access more interventions from donor agencies.

On malnutrition, Bala Mohammed assured UNICEF of timely payment of counterpart funding for the supply of commodities to malnourished children in the state.

He pledged the readiness of the present administration to block human capital gap in the state for effective implementation of development partners projects for the well being of the citizens.

The Governor informed the UNICEF officials that the resolve of his administration to declare State of Emergency on Health and Education sectors is to find a lasting solution to the challenges facing them as they are key to societal development.

Earlier, the  UNICEF Chief Field Officer, Mr Bhanu Pathak said that UNICEF supported the implementation of 5 programmes in the areas of Health, Education, WASH, Nutrition and Child Protection.

He said already, the organisation has set aside N270 million for the supply of commodities for the treatment of malnourished children and appealed to the governor to allocate more resources for tackling malnutrition in the state.

Bhanu Pathak reassured to support the present administration in the state to address the challenges facing critical sectors of the economy especially the menace of out of school children in the state.