From Muawuya Bala Idris, Katsina
Katsina State, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has launched a two-day capacity-building workshop aimed at addressing multidimensional child poverty across the state.
Organized by the Katsina State Bureau of Statistics, the workshop brought together government officials, experts, and other stakeholders to strengthen the state’s data systems and enhance social protection planning.
Speaking at the event, the State Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Malik Anas, represented by Director of Budget Kabir Bazanya, highlighted that children in the state face multiple deprivations in health, education, nutrition, and access to basic services.
He said the workshop would equip participants with practical knowledge to implement evidence-based social protection strategies that directly impact children’s lives.
“By merging the quarterly meeting, we aim to review our progress, address gaps, and jointly explore ways of enhancing data coordination for improved service delivery,” Anas said.
The workshop also served as a platform for the quarterly meeting of the State Consultative Committee on Statistics (SCCS), aimed at harmonizing data productivity, prioritizing quality standards, and strengthening collaboration among state and local government agencies, as well as development partners.
Earlier, the Statistician-General of the state, Prof. Saifullahi Sani, said the workshop was designed to address multidimensional child poverty through context-specific social protection measures. He noted that recent statistics indicate a malnutrition crisis in the state, requiring urgent intervention.
“The workshop aims to build capacity at the local government level, particularly among the Directors of Education and Social Development, to tackle issues such as malnutrition and child poverty,” Sani said, adding that each indicator of child poverty is being addressed individually.
He further explained that the first week of December would focus on nutrition, followed by a survey on Almajiri and Tsangaya schools.
Also speaking, the state Director of the National Population Commission (NPC), Mr. Usman Saidu-Waziri, described child poverty as one of the most pressing development challenges in Katsina.
He stressed that it affects not only children’s wellbeing but also the overall progress of communities and the nation.
Saidu-Waziri assured that the NPC is ready to collaborate with the state government to produce and use population data to support targeted and sustainable solutions to child poverty.
