Following the deteriorating nutritional status of children in Gombe State, the Maternal and Newborn Child Health (MNCH) Coalition in the State,has urged the State House of Assembly to promulgate a law that will compel contractors to remit one per cent of their contract sums for nutrition activities, if the case of acute malnutrition in the state must be fought to a standstill.
Speaking on behalf of the State Chairman of the coalition, Comrade Alhassan Yahaya, the Vice Chairman, Malam Sani Adamu Jauro made the appeal in an interview with newsmen in Gombe shortly after the coalition’s quarterly meeting.
According to the Vice Chairman of the Coalition, if the law is promulgated and one percent of any contract awarded to any contractor in the state can be remitted for nutrition activities, it would go a long way in complementing government’s efforts in tackling the issue of malnutrition in the state.
Malam Sani Jauro said, the Coalition would also pay advocacy visits to corporate organisations to ask them to make contributions as part of their corporate social responsibility as well as philanthropists that may be willing to support this cause.
The Vice Chairman expressed happiness over the approval by the State Government of the costed operational plan for nutrition for the period of 2016 to 2021 amounting to N3.5 billion as presented by the Coalition with the aim of tackling the issue of malnutrition in the state.
He stated that it was also commendable that the Gombe State Government has allocated N120 million Naira for the year 2017 budget on nutrition activities as against N50 million in the year 2016.
The aim of the Coalition is to advocate the improvement and safe guarding of the health of maternal and newborn children from stakeholders including the media and Civil Society Organisations in the state.
