el-Rufai’s Wife Leads Fight Against Malnutrition In Kaduna

The Kaduna state government said it is tackling the scourge of malnutrition with determination and focus.
Hajiya Ummi el-Rufai, wife of the state governor and chairperson of the Kaduna State Emergency Nutrition Action Programme (KADENAP), stated this during a visit to the Pampaida millennium village project, located in Saulawa, Ikara local government area.
Fielding questions from journalists during the visit along with members of the steering committee of KADENAP, Hajiya Ummi said the alarming statistics released by UNICEF on the number of malnourished children in the state had gingered her to take this fight head on.
She said, “reading a piece of news by UNICEF that 1.3 million children are affected by malnutrition gingered me to thinking of what to do to salvage that situation”.
The Kaduna State Emergency Nutrition Action Plan, KADENAP was launched in January 2017 as a task force with the sole purpose of ensuring that the disturbing statistic on malnutrition in Kaduna is reversed through concrete actions to provide food for the vulnerable.
Led by the wife of the governor, Ummi el-Rufai, the task force comprises of commissioners of health & human services, budget & planning, finance, agriculture, rural & community development, water resources, women affairs & social development and education.
At the launching of the summit in January, Governor el-Rufai had said that the Kaduna state government has taken steps to address hunger and starvation in the state, where he  disclosed that  his administration had last year set aside N300 million to take care of 50,000 malnourished children through UNICEF.
The commissioner for rural and community development, Hajia Balaraba Aliyu, who was also at Pampaida, said that the Kaduna state government, through the ministry is implementing an action plan to reduce poverty in the state. “The government is developing women and youth employment and education programmes as part of its fight against poverty.
“Our desire is to ensure inclusive development in the state, with particular emphasis on rural communities to bring them out of extreme poverty,” Hajiya Balaraba explained.
KADENAP has identified Zaria, Makarfi and Igabi as the three local government areas with very high number of malnutrition cases, requiring urgent intervention.