Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir has pledged that his administration is ready to partner with all relevant international development partners in the bid to grow every one of the critical sectors of the state.
The Governor was speaking when he received in the audience, a joint mission delegation of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund(UNICEF) and Global Affairs Canada (GAC) at the Government House.
He said that health, education, agriculture, poverty reduction and adequate allocation are key critical intervention areas of UNICEF and GAC forming part of his administration’s blueprint.
He, therefore, requested more support from the agencies stressing that such support will complement what efforts his administration is putting in place to achieve the set objectives.
Mohammed also expressed gratitude to GAC for its viable interventions in the state and chose Bauchi state to be a reference point and model to be studied by other states.
The governor further said that the state will jealously guard the ranking and not take it for granted saying that the state government has developed a robust sustainability framework to ensure that gains recorded from donor partners do not wither away as interventions exit.
He appreciated GAC for its intervention in the rice, groundnut and soybeans value chain under its Nigeria-WAY Project that is being implemented in 7 LGAs of the state.
He then assured the delegation that the state has since commenced under-studying the implementation processes of the intervention with a view to sustaining and replicating the same across the entire state.
He further informed the delegation that the State government, through the agency for microfinance has designed a program tagged MIFIN in an effort to pick up from where GAC intervention ends.
The governor further assured of the government’s resolve towards meeting its obligations in all arrangements made with its development partners.
Earlier, GAC had commended the Bauchi State Government for its sustainability plan to continue and replicate interventions carried out by GAC.
The commendation was given by the new Head of Development and Cooperation of the Canadian High Commission in Nigeria, Djifa Ahado during a courtesy visit to the Governor late Tuesday evening.
Djifa Ahado said that GAC was impressed by the commitment of the Bauchi State Government in not only continuing with GAC’s interventions in the state but also replicating it across the entire state.
Though she lamented the persistent maternal, newborn and child mortality and morbidity rate in the state, Djifa Ahado expressed her hope that concerted efforts should be intensified in reversing the trend.
She particularly stressed the need for the state government to strengthen its road network to make healthcare services accessible to people in the core rural areas.
She also disclosed that because of the successes recorded in some of the interventions in the state, GAC intends to make Bauchi State a reference point and model to be studied by other states in Nigeria.
Also speaking, the Chief of UNICEF Field Office, Bauchi, Dr Tushar Rane said that the Government of Canada has made available the sum of $ 3 million assistance to the Bauchi State Government to fast track and strengthen women and children engagement geared towards making quality health service accessible.
Tushar Rane who was represented by the Health Specialist in the Field Office said the $3 Million is meant to strengthen the implementation of some of the ongoing interventions of GAC and other partners in healthcare services that were captured in an MoU signed by both parties.
According to him, “We are working through the Bauchi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency and other partners in the MoU, and we are working in all the 323 wards of the state empowering women for their engagements in health service delivery.”
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