UNICEF has appealed to the Kebbi House of Assembly to set up a committee on the Child Protection Act to facilitate the inclusion of allowance for children in the state.

The UNICEF chief of the field office in charge of Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara, Michael Juma, made the appeal during a courtesy visit to the House in Birnin Kebbi on Thursday.

According to Mr Juma, UNICEF focuses on advancing the Child Rights Act.

He said that within the framework, there is a pending Child Protection Act in the state, which was supposed to have been sent to the executive for approval.

“The UNICEF is seeking your support in terms of rallying around members of the assembly and the executive to endorse the Child Protection Act to become a law for the interest of children in Kebbi,” he said.

On Child Benefit Allowance, Mr Juma pleaded with the assembly that its acceptance would enhance inclusive social development for children from poor local government areas of the state.

“We want to look at the support we can give to the children in order for them to access education, healthcare, sanitation, nutrition and safe drinking water in the state,” the officer said.

He also spoke on the Social Protection Act, saying the multidimensional poverty in Kebbi was high compared to other states in the country.

Mr Juma said UNICEF would support the state to ensure the most deprived women and children had social protection development.

Responding, the speaker, Muhammad Usman-Zuru, appreciated UNICEF’s interventions in various sectors of social and economic development in the state.

Mr Usman-Zuru reiterated the commitment of the assembly to supporting the agency in actualising its mandates and desired objectives.

“We will sit down at the executive session to look at the possibility of Child Benefit Allowance, to see how we can consider the establishment of a committee for that purpose.

“For the Child Rights Act, we are on top of it, to forward the bill to the executive in order to deliberate extensively on it,” he said.

(NAN)