The Jigawa State had been ranked as highest of multi-dimensionally poor children in the country with 73.9 percent.
The UNICEF Kano Chief field officer, Mr. Rahama Rihiod Mohammed Farah in a speech delivered during the launching of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 6) in Dutse, Jigawa state capital, said this is contained in an outcome of the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 6) and released in August 2022.
The launching of the MICS 6 survey report was conducted by the Jigawa State ministry of finance and economic planning and UNICEF Kano field office held at Manpower Development Institute attended by many critical stakeholders such as political leaders, civil servants, civil societies, community leaders, and groups, traditional leaders, religious leaders and donor partners among others.
Mr. Rahama Rihiod Mohammed Farah explained that the report is a source of concern as it shows the critical situation the children are living in and facing an uncertain future.
He maintained that “the Survey was carried out in 2021 and the results are released in Aug 2022 shows that 73.9% of children in Jigawa are multi-dimensionaly poor”, adding that the surgery indicated that 65 percent of children in the northeast were Multi-dimensionaly Poor.
“This high rate shows a striking reality that children’s rights in Jigawa state are not being fulfilled. Most children in the state are deprived of their basic rights for survival, protection, and development”, Farah emphasized
According to him though the survey results (MICS 6, 2021) reveal that the state has made significant progress in some indicators such as child Immunization coverage from 2011 to 2021, achieving a reduction of under 5 mortality by 37%. “This indeed a substantial progress that needs to be continued and sustained”.
“However, there are still indicators that either did not improve (such as the case of child birth registration) Child nutrition”.
“In Education, 44% of children that are supposed to be in primary school are still out of school. While learning foundation skill outcome is 2%.”
“Today’s launching of the MICS in Jigawa is an urgent call for action, this an emergency call for policymakers, community leaders, civil society organizations, politicians, the state parliamentarians, and international actors across all sectors to put the most need efforts and design innovative strategies to improve the current human development situation in the state especially for improving the wellbeing of children and women who suffer the most” Farah Declared.