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Kaduna Perm. Sec. urges LG focal persons to improve responsibilities for better nutrition indices
Mr Bashir Muhammad, the Permanent Secretary, Kaduna State Planning and Budget Commission (PBC), has urged Local Government Area
(LGA) Nutrition Focal Persons (NFPs) to improve their responsibilities for better nutrition indices in the state.
Muhammad, who doubles as the Chairman of the State Committee on Food and Nutrition (SCFN), made the call in Zaria, Kaduna State, at the opening of a three-day quarterly review meeting of NFPs across the state’s LGAs.
Muhammad, represented by the Director, Development Aid Coordination, PBC, Mrs Linda Yakubu, decried the poor outcome of the last meeting held with the local government NFPs .
“We felt discouraged to the point of contemplating to hold another meeting, but due to your importance in ensuring the set objectives in improving nutrition, we organised this quarterly review meeting,” he said.
He noted that the NFPs were saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that all nutrition interventions in LGAs were implemented under the PBC’s watch.
The SCFN chairman also noted that the committee was saddled with responsibility of ensuring that whatever was contained in the Kaduna State Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action on nutrition, should also be implemented at LGA levels.
He, therefore, said the review meeting was to interact with the LGAs NFPs to hear what they were doing in the various LGAs in line with the nutrition action plan.
He urged the LGAs NFPs to improve, going forward to reflect what they ought to have developed as their Annual Operation Plan, which would be reviewed in the meeting as a supposed guide for their activities in the last two quarters.
Earlier, the Director, Development Aid Coordination, PBC, Mrs Linda Yakubu, said the essence of the meeting was to review the Annual Operational Plan for the 23 LGAs in Kaduna.
Yakubu, represented by Ms Hauwa Baba, said the meeting was also to review updates on implementation of the annual operational plan and build capacity of the NFPs on appraisal tool.
A supporting partner of the meeting, Jessica Bartholomew, the State Coordinator of Civil Society Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), commended the PBC for ensuring implementation of their mandate.
She explained that, in spite of numerous challenges such as cash backing and other government protocols, the SCFN had been appraised of its task towards ensuring that the needful was done by the NFPs, to enhance nutrition.
Another supporting partner, Rahila Maishanu, representative of NAFDAC, congratulated the SCFN for the feat it had achieved in enhancing nutrition indices.
In comparison with other states across Nigeria, she said better nutrition indices in Kaduna superceded many states in Nigeria.
Also, Muhammad Madaki, the Zonal Coordinator (Zone 1) of the State Primary Health Care Board, noted that such review meetings was critical to improving nutrition indices.
On behalf of other Zonal Coordinators (2 and 3), he said the NFPs were key to the success of the SCFN.
He urged the NFPs to be deligent in implementing the nutrition action plan however the numerous challenges, including finance.
The review meeting was also supported by UNICEF, among others.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Anambra State Sector Command, has confirmed the death of a woman in an accident at Okpoko Market on the Asaba-Onitsha Road.
The Sector Commander, Mr Adeoye Irelewuyi, who confirmed the accident to journalists in Awka on Thursday, said that the woman was hit while she was crossing the road.
He said that the accident, which occurred on Wednesday, involved a commercial tow truck with registration number XA550BMA.
“Eyewitness report reaching us indicates that the truck was towing a vehicle in an uncontrollable speed along the axis.
“The vehicle that was being towed got detached from the tow truck.
“It hit and killed a female adult, who was said to be crossing the road, while the tow truck continued its movement.
“FRSC rescue team came to the scene and took the woman to Toronto Hospital, Onitsha, where she was confirmed dead and her body deposited at the hospital’s mortuary,” he said.
While sympathising with the family of the dead, the sector commander urged motorists, especially tow truck drivers, to exercise a high level of professionalism.
He also urged the drivers to always use standard equipment and avoid speeding.
The Chairman, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Lagos State Chapter, Mr Mojeed Iyiola, said the state government’s maize palliative to members of the association made a positive impact on the sector.
Iyiola said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
“We received about 150,000 tons of maize in February from the Lagos State government as palliative to cushion the effect of high feed prices.
“The major benefit of the palliative is that it actually cushioned the cost of production for most poultry farmers in the state.
“The palliative was beneficial as it made the cost of some poultry produce, especially eggs to drop,” Iyiola said.
He noted that prior to the palliative, a crate of egg was sold between N3,500 and N3,700 at the farm gate, but after the palliative, it now sells between N3,200 and N3,400.
According to the PAN chair, retailers and middlemen who sell from N3,800 to N4,200 do that for their personal gain.
“We have urged our members to sell their eggs at reasonable prices following the receipt of the palliative from the government.
“We appreciate the Lagos State government for the palliative but we also urge the federal government to do likewise, to further reduce the cost of production in the sector.
“This will consequently lead to drop in the prices of all poultry produce across board,” he said.
He said the palliative was shared among financial members of the association at no extra cost.
“As an association we shared the grains equally across PAN’s eight zones in the state equally. We also mandated each zone not the sell even a grain of the maize.
“We, however, considered new poultry farmers who wanted to the join the association as beneficiaries of the palliative,” said Iyiola.
He noted that through the palliative, more poultry farmers were recruited into the association.
“The maize was shared only to poultry farmers and not feed millers, it is the major component of poultry feed formulation,” he said.
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