By Ibrahim Kado

Survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Adamawa have lauded the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative project for saving their lives and for empowering them.

They made the commendation in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yola on Sunday.

One of the beneficiaries of the fund’s interventions, a 20-year-old secondary school student, thanked the UN body for prompt actions toward saving her life when she was raped.

She explained that when the case was reported to the One Stop Centre (OSC), established by the UNFPA in Yola, the officials took care of her medically and psychologically.

NAN reports that the OSC was created to support women affected by violence in private and public spaces, within the family, community and at the workplace.

Aggrieved women who reached out or been referred to the OSC due to any kind of violence are, therefore, being provided with specialised services.

The 20-year-old said she and her parents were seriously disturbed at the time of the incident but after counselling and actions taken by the OSC officials to prevent her against any diseases, the family left everything in the hands of God.

She said “at the end, I was trained and empowered with sewing machine to start my business free of charge which I did not expect in my life.

“Currently I have already started producing bags to generate income for myself.”

Also, Florence Obed, another beneficiary,  a 50-year-old widow with four children, expressed gratitude to God and to the UN body and partners for the empowerment given to her.

She said that the UNFPA really impacted her life, which is helping her to take care of her children.

Obed explained that she was trained on how to produce local spaghetti and empowered with a machine, which she is currently using to produce the pasta to feed her children and for sale to earn some income.

Another beneficiary who pleaded for anonymity also appreciated UNFPA for the empowerment and other services.

She told NAN that she learned how to sew clothes at the OSC in Yola and empowered with a sewing machine after she was violently treated by her husband.

She explained that before the empowerment, she was in difficult situation, but currently living peaceful, running her business courtesy of UNFPA.

She added that it is her first time of benefitting from such a gesture and it is impacting on her life as the main source of income to cater for her needs.

She also appreciated the support, training and counselling given to her by officials of the OSC. (NAN)

Edited by Hadiza Mohammed-Aliyu

By Habibu Harisu

Sokoto State Government has pledged sustained partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in promoting skills acquisition training and other educational pursuits of youths in the state.

Alhaji Usman Arziki-Bodinga, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, stated this at the commemoration of the 2023 International Youths Day, organised by the state government, in collaboration with UNFPA on Saturday in Sokoto.

He described this year’s theme ” Green Skills for Youths Toward Sustainable Development”, as apt, saying it will encourage self reliance and productivity among the youths.

The permanent secretary enjoined youths to explore their potentialities and utilise available opportunities in the state and the nation at large.

He, however, lamented that “unemployment rate is on the increase because everyone depends on educational certificates and all out looking for elusive white collar jobs.”

Arzika-Bodinga said that the aim was to highlight the essential roles teachers, trainers and other educators play in providing skills that will equip the youths for labour markets.

According to him, the efforts will prepare them to become relevant decent entrepreneurs in their communities and societies.

The UNFPA Programme Officer in the state, Mrs Gloria Enueze, urged youths to embrace skills for self reliance to reduce unemployment in the country.

Enueze said: “Skilled youths are not jobless, they cannot be easy preys in the hands of organisers of evils in the society.”

A Youth Advocate and UNFPA Desk Officer, Malam Umar Idris, said the objective of the day was to awaken youths to be entrepreneurially minded and have plausible and indispensable digital skills.

Idris said people with skills and education had good chances to thrive and succeed in life, adding, “a skilled person is always relevant at any point of his or her age because there is no retirement.

” The older you become in your skill, the more experienced and sought after you become by those who need your services.

” Skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development should be given more priority in Nigerian schools,” he said.

He added that no society can progress without skills development, saying,” a technical man or woman can never be unemployed.”

Some participants, A’isha Musa, Sa’adatu Hussaini and Yusuf Abubakar, described the event as profitable and promised to utilise the knowledge gained to start businesses beside schooling.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event witnessed presentations, discussions on potentialities development, available acquisition centers, markets and supports. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Bashir Rabe Mani

By Philip Yatai

The Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board (SPHCB) has appealed to the state and local government workers to enrol in Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) for health insurance services.

The Executive Secretary of the board, Dr Hamza Abubakar made the appeal in Abuja on Saturday, during a two-day meeting with Chairmen of the 23 local government councils of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was organised by the Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority (KADCHMA), to find sustainable and innovative funding for healthcare services in the state.

The meeting was supported by Save the Children International, Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) and Lifiya programme.

Abubakar explained that the more enrolees a facility has the more money that comes to the facility, which could be used to improve medical supplies and facilities.

This, according to him, will improve the quality of service delivery in PHCs across the state and reposition them to favourably compete with private facilities.

He, however, decried a situation where the majority of civil servants in the state enroled in private facilities for the health scheme, thereby depriving the public facilities of a huge source of funding.

“It is sad that the majority of government workers enroled in private hospitals as against PHCs, thereby depriving the PHCs of the huge opportunity for more funding needed to improve the quality of service delivery.

“I am therefore, appealing to the council chairmen to encourage their workers who are yet to enrol to do so and select PHCs so that our public facilities will have increased access to funding opportunities.

“For workers that have enrolled already, we can have a conversation with them to consider transferring their service to PHCs. This will go a long way in improving the quality of health services in the state,” he said.

The executive secretary further urged the council chairmen to work with the management of KADCHMA to encourage community members to enrol in the health insurance scheme.

He said that the resources going to the facilities from KADCHMA and the National Health Insurance Authority, through the Basic Health Care Provisions Funds, were already transforming health services in PHCs.

Dr Sani Abubakar, Programme Manager, Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), pointed out that 7.8 million of the more than 10 million estimated population of the state were multidimensionality poor.

Abubakar said that when compared with other North-West states, Kaduna performed very poorly in the health dimension and was the second most deprived state.

“Not only that, Kaduna state is also one of the worst states to be a child in Nigeria due to high neonatal, infant and children under five mortality.

“Kaduna State is equally the sixth worst state in skilled birth delivery and the ninth worst state in women receiving postnatal care within two days after birth.

“This is why health insurance schemes, particularly the Vulnerable Group Funds (VGF) are critical to increase access to quality and affordable health care services to improve the health indices in the state,” he said.

He explained that VGFs are tailored health insurance funds targeting high-risk populations, aiming to narrow healthcare gaps through customised coverage. (NAN)

Edited by Isaac Ukpoju

By Philip Yatai

The Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority (KADCHMA) has engaged the Chairmen of the 23 Local Government Areas of the state to find sustainable and innovative ways to finance healthcare in the state.

The Director-General of the authority, Malam Abubakar Hassan, said at the opening of a two-day meeting in Abuja on Friday, that the move was part of strategies to attain Universal Health Coverage.

The News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) reports that the meeting was supported by Save the Children International (SCI), Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL) and Lafiya programme.

Hassan said that measure was to leverage on the health financing structure in Kaduna State and look at the journey in the last three years and find ways to address all impediments.

He said that the engagement was part of the sustained agenda of Gov. Uba Sani-led administration, which prioritised health insurance as a strategy to reduce out-of-pocket expenditure on health services.

He said that the council chairmen were engaged to become champions and ambassadors of health insurance, with a view to mobilise resources at the local level to support state government efforts.

He pointed out that a larger percentage of the population were being plunged into poverty because of healthcare expenditure, saying that “most households fall into poverty whenever one of them falls sick.

“We have done well in the coverage of the formal sector into the scheme in the last three years which currently stands at more than 98 per cent.

“We have also done a little bit of coverage of the informal sector, which is abysmally small, standing at less than 3 per cent of the over 80 per cent of the population of the state,” he said.

He blamed the low coverage of the informal sector to lack of awareness, poverty, religion, and culture.

He said that the state government has allocated 1 per cent of its consolidated revenue to provide free health care services to the poor and vulnerable groups.

Earlier, Mr Amanuel Momo, Director, Advocacy, Communications, Campaigns and Media, SCI, said that the organisation was working with stakeholders and duty bearers to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of children.

He said that the SCI has supported the government to develop a health care financing strategy and implementation plan towards attaining UHC.

“This will not be achieved without the collective support of partners and stakeholders, particularly the collective support of the 23 local government chairmen.

“One of our expectations from this meeting is a political commitment towards the elimination of the catastrophic out-of-pocket expenditure, which is about 84 per cent in the state.

“We also want a commitment to addressing maternal health challenges at primary health care centres, through improved and efficient financing to increase enrolment into the health insurance scheme,” he said.

Also, Mr Adejor Abel, State Lead facilitator, PERL, said that the governance programme has been working with other partners to ensure a citizens’ responsive governance in the state.

Abel added that PERL was achieving this through support in the development of critical policies and strategies and strengthening citizens’ engagement in the government process.

Dr Sani Abubakar, Programme Manager, Clinton Health Access Initiative, described UHC as a global priority, which seeks to increase access to quality health care by all populations, while reducing their financial burden.

He said that CHAI was working closely with the state Ministry of Health and KADCHMA to strengthen the health insurance intervention in the state.

He reiterated the organisation’s continued support to ensure that KADCHMA increases health insurance coverage in the state.

Similarly, Mr Abubakar Yerima, Local Government Facilitator, Lafiya programme, equally assured the state government of the programme continued support to improve the health indices of the state. (NAN)

Edited by Vivian Ihechu