Contractors should contribute 1% of revenue to combat malnutrition in Gombe

AS part of efforts to reduce malnutrition among children in Gombe State, the Maternal and Newborn Child Health (MNCH) Coalition in the state has called on the State House of Assembly to come up with a law that will compel contractors to remit one per cent of their contract sum for nutrition activities.

The State Chairman of the coalition, Comrade Alhassan Yahaya, alongside other executives, made the call in Gombe shortly after the coalition’s quarterly meeting, saying that if the law is promulgated and the one percent is remitted accordingly, it would complement government’s efforts in fighting the menace of malnutrition among children.

According to the chairman, the coalition would also pay advocacy visits to corporate organisations to make contributions as part of their corporate social responsibilities as well as philanthropists that may be willing to support this course.

In his contribution, the Vice Chairman Mallam Sani Adamu Jauro expressed happiness over the approval by the state government of the costed operational plan for nutrition for the period of 2016 to 2021 amounting to N3.5 billion as presented by the coalition with the aim of tackling the issue of malnutrition in the state.

He  commended the Gombe State Government for its allocated of One Hundred and twenty million naira for the year 2017 budget on nutrition activities as against N50 million in the year 2016.

The Vice Chairman said the aim of the coalition is to advocate for the improvement and safe guarding the health of maternal and newborn children from stakeholders including the media and Civil Society Organisations in the state.