The Civil Society-Scaling Up Nutrition in Nigeria (CS-SUNN), said on Tuesday that Kaduna State needs N6.4 billion to treat 96,488 severe acutely malnourished children in the state.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), CS-SUNN coordinator in the state, Ms Jessica Bartholomew, made this known in Kaduna, during an advocacy visit to the management of Kaduna State Media Corporation (KSMC).

NAN  reported that the advocacy visit was organised by the State Committee on Food and Nutrition (SCFN) with  the support from CS-SUNN to push for increase investments in nutrition sector.

Bartholomew explained that children under five years constituted more than two million of the over 10 million estimated population of the state.

She said that of the figure, 4.8 per cent, representing 96,488 of the children were severe and acutely malnourished.

The coordinator said that of the N6.4 billion required to treat the children, the government had budgeted N2.3 billion in its 2022 budget, leaving a gap of N4.1 billion, representing 64 per cent deficit.

Meanwhile, the wife of the Niger State governor, Dr Amina Abubakar Bello, has said that out of 13.2 million out- of -school children in Nigeria, according to  the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF), the North is leading with the rate of 69 per cent, while assuring  that the region was poised  to change the narrative.

She said this at a Stakeholders’ workshop on the implementation of At Risk Children Programme (ARC-P) on Tuesday in Minna, noting that in 2017, Niger State  was the highest in the youths’ substance abuse in the North- Central zone as the major causes of violence and restiveness in the state.

The wife of the governor,    who assured of the commitment of the state government to the  implementation of the programme, added that ARC-P would provide basic protection for the children  who couldn’t have  the basic education.