Aminu Tambuwal, the governor of Sokoto State, has reiterated that his administration will continue to support the UNICEF in the region.
The governor also stated that his administration outperforms the federal government in terms of results in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
When meeting the departing United Nations Children’s Fund Nigeria representative, Mr. Peter Hawkins, and his team on Tuesday, Tambuwal made the announcement. He also vowed that his administration would fulfill all of its commitments to the UN agency on time.
“We are doing more on the SDGs than the Federal Government. The Federal Government is slowing down seriously on the implementation of the SDGs. We have not, for long, received any support or counterpart funding from the Federal Government on the SDGs.
“I believe for almost four years now, we have not received anything. But our SDG office has been functioning here in Sokoto. Year in, year out, we get some resources for them to continue with the implementation of those programs,” the governor explained.
He also congratulated UNICEF for its work on the Spotlight project, a joint EU-UN effort aimed at “combatting violence against women and girls,” and noted that the project was making headway in that regard.
Although social initiatives need a lot of resources, the governor noted in a statement written by his media assistant, Muhammad Bello noted that “states grappling to pay salary, partners cannot be able to pay counterpart fundings.”
While praising the Tambuwal administration for bringing the Child Rights Act domestically, the departing UNICEF country representative, Hawkins, made compelling arguments in his remarks for the social protection of children, particularly those in the Almajiri system, the Spotlight initiative, the improvement of the primary healthcare system, the SDGs, and other issues like malnutrition.
According to him, healthcare is at the heart of 80% of the problems facing women and children.
