The United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) has said about 74 per cent of children in Jigawa State were multidimensionally poor.

The chief of UNICEF Kano field office, comprising Kano, Katsina and Jigawa, Rahma Farah, stated this at the state’s 2022 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) launch in Dutse on Thursday.

“Today, we have gathered in Jigawa to launch the findings and results of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 6) for the Jigawa state. This MICS survey was carried out in 2021, and the results were released in August 2022,” stated Mr Farah. “MICS is a survey carried out at the household level to provide statistically sound and comparable data on key development indicators related to children, women and vulnerable groups in the society.”

Mr Farah said children in Nigeria faced severe multi-dimensional deprivations. According to the official, in the North-West, almost all states have multidimensional poverty rates higher than the national average.

Mr Farah, however, added that among KFO states, Jigawa had the worst child deprivation rate, as 73.9 per cent of children in the state were multidimensionally poor.

He noted that the high rate showed a striking reality that children’s rights in the state were not being fulfilled.

“Most children in Jigawa are deprived of their basic rights for survival, protection and development,” stated the UNICEF official. “The MICS results in 2021 for Jigawa state reveal that while the state has made significant progress in some indicators, there are still indicators that either did not improve (such as the case of child birth registration) or are still below the national averages, such as the under-five mortality rate.”

Mr Farha further stated that despite the high under-five mortality, from 2011 to 2021, Jigawa reduced its under-five mortality by 37 per cent, a substantial progress that needed to be continued and sustained.

He stressed the continuous need for effective health and nutrition interventions to reduce under-five children’s deaths by carefully analysing and addressing the underlying and contributing causes that precipitated them.

According to him, 44 per cent of children supposed to be in primary school are still out of school.

The UNICEF official added that in terms of learning achievement in schools, the MICS 2021 introduced a new foundational learning module that measured the level of foundational numeracy and literacy skills of children between the ages of seven and 12.

He further stated that the MICS data showed that the learning achievement situation in the state was deeply worrying.

“We are seeing that less than two per cent of the children assessed have demonstrated foundational reading and numeracy skills. This is an urgent call for immediate action. Today’s launching of the MICS in Jigawa is an urgent call for action,” the UNICEF representative explained. 

He added, “This is an emergency call for policymakers, community leaders, civil society organisations, politicians, state parliamentarians and international actors across all sectors to put in the most efforts and design innovative strategies to improve the current human development situation in the state.”

(NAN)