By: Monday Munkaila, Gombe
It has been observed that significant percentage of Nigeria’s population is in extreme poverty which is also expected to rise because of the high rate of inflation and currency devaluation leading to economic hardship.
The observation was made by the Bauchi State Commissioner for Budget, Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination, Aminu Hammayo while delivering a goodwill message at the North-East Strategic Policy Dialogue on Social Budgeting for Child-Sensitive Sectors organized by Gombe State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Bauchi Field Office in Gombe.
The Commissioner also observed that the magnitude of poverty and vulnerability of the citizens in the North East subregion of Nigeria requires a stronger social protection Policy supported by a very strong social budgeting framework.
“As such, it is very important that strong budgeting policies on social protection be put in place,” he added and stressed the importance of the dialogue, described it as very timely and apt.
According to him, “Ironically, Nigeria as a country spent 0.14 percent of its GDP on social protection in 2021, now the total expenditure on social protection is the worst, now it is even more extreme because the expenditures of the combined 36 states representing only about 20 percent of the entire social protection in the country.”
The Commissioner also said that for North-East as a subregion, the poverty line is quite high, quite alarming as reflected in the multi dimensional indices and especially child MPI.
Aminu Hammayo stressed that, “Now this also calls for us as a region to have discussion so that we can have a common voice and position to strengthen our effort, to push our words forward and define the action that we need to take to move forward.”
The Commissioner who commended the UNICEF for organizing the dialogue, thanked Gombe State government for hosting it as well as his colleagues from the other States of the North-East subregion for finding time to attend.
He said that Bauchi state Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed is highly committed to the plights of women and children as well as the general wellbeing of the citizens.
“This dialogue provides us with the opportunity as a region to think about how it can be done”, he added.
He then urged his colleagues from the other Five States of the subregion to ensure that they had takeaways from the dialogue and go back to their States to see how the issues will be effectively tackled in the interests of the children alongside women.
