The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has emphasised the need for greater financial investment in social sectors to tackle the issue of multidimensional poverty that impedes overall development in the country.
The chief of UNICEF’s Sokoto field office, Michael Juma, made the call at a five-day workshop on Monday in Sokoto.
The workshop was organised by the Sokoto State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning with UNICEF’s support through the European Union’s Sustainable and Innovative Social Protection Project.
The workshop focused on developing three-year Medium-Term Sector Strategies (MTSS) 2026-2028 for health, education, social protection, and water, sanitation and hygiene in Sokoto.
Mr Juma, represented by Isah Ibrahim, a social policy specialist in UNICEF, said that even with an increase in annual budgets by different states, poverty and the lack of basic services are still rising, especially among vulnerable households in Northern Nigeria.
“This troubling trend of multidimensional and learning poverty has escalated over the years and requires collective action by the government, private sector and community members for it to be addressed,” he said.
While commending the Sokoto State government for its commitment to social protection programmes, Mr Juma appealed for increased financial provisions and effective implementation of budgets aimed at child-focused initiatives.
He stressed that the initiatives should include cash transfers, social health insurance, malnutrition prevention and support for out-of-school children. He also stressed the importance of creating a conducive environment for basic health care and education services.
Juma called on the Sokoto State government to effectively leverage the support it was receiving on its commitment to transition from traditional mode budgeting to programme-based budgeting, a shift that UNICEF was assisting in nine states across the federation.
In his remarks, the commissioner of budget and economic planning, Abubakar Zayyana, commended UNICEF for its continued support to the state aimed at helping it achieve its development goals.
Zayyana emphasised that the budgets of ministries, departments and agencies should be based on their programmes and activities to align with the government’s nine-point smart agenda.
He noted that ambiguous budgets or those designed without proper planning would no longer be acceptable.
The commissioner noted the importance of programme-based budgeting in achieving desired goals and emphasised the need for teamwork to move the state to greater heights.
Also speaking, the commissioner for health, Faruk Wurno, urged the directors of planning of the ministry and its parastatals to make good projections based on the objectives and programmes of the ministry.
“This will enable the development of a realistic, purposeful, and evidence-based budget for the 2026 fiscal year,” he said.
Wurno described the MTSS as a critical step in improving Sokoto’s budget and warned that any submitted budget proposal which was not aligned with the ministry’s objectives and programmes would not be included.
