By Tina George, Minna
A startling revelation was made on Tuesday that the Niger state government has not released the budgeted sum for nutrition budget in the last two years.
According to the Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), the 2017 and 2018 budgeted sum for nutrition have not been released in the state.
Speaking in Minna at a one day media engagement, the Executive Secretary of CS-SUNN, Mrs. Beatrice Eluaka called on the Niger state government to ensure the timely releases of funds allocated to nutrition in order to scale up nutrition interventions in the state.
“Data from CS-SUNN’s trend analysis of health and nutrition budget in Nigeria showed that Niger state government budgetted N89, 218,166 for nutrition in 2017, no releases were however made from this allocation. This year, the state government budgeted N137, 746,250 for nutrition but still no releases have yet been made.”
She lamented on the disturbing statistics on malnutrition in Niger state saying that this can only be reversed when there is adequate funding for nutrition.
“CS-SUNN calls on the Governor Abubakar Sani Bello led administration to ensure timely release of funds allocated to nutrition as well as effective and efficient utilization of nutrition funds. “
The Executive Secretary then charged the media to step up reportage of nutrition issues to draw attention of policy makers and stakeholders on the urgent need to take the right steps towards curbing malnutrition in the state.
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