10 Gombe LGs face severe food security issues — Survey

No fewer than 10 Local Government Areas of Gombe State are facing severe food security issues, according to the 2024/2025 Gombe State General Household Survey and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey.

Alhaji Ibrahim Dule, Statistician-General of the state, stated this on Tuesday at a three-day capacity-building workshop for local council officials in Gombe.

The exercise, organised by the Gombe State Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund, aims to combat multidimensional poverty among children in 11 LGAs of the state.

Dule, who was represented by Musa Umar, the overseeing Director of Economic and Social Statistics at the Gombe State Bureau of Statistics, reviewed the survey conducted with the support of UNICEF.

He said the survey showed that 65 per cent of households in the state have access to drinking water, while 51.5 per cent have access to improved sanitation, with urban centres at 64.9 per cent and rural areas at 43 per cent.

Dule also said the survey indicated that 50.5 per cent of households have access to electricity, with urban residents at 74.3 per cent and rural dwellings at 35.4 per cent.

“10 LGAs have severe food security issues, which is a great cause of concern and should be looked into critically,” he said.

UNICEF Chief of Field Office, Bauchi, Nuzhat Rafique, expressed concern over the high level of child poverty in the state.

Rafique highlighted that the 2024/2025 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted in the state showed that seven out of 10 children experienced multidimensional poverty.

She said many children were being deprived of basic life necessities due to the prevailing challenges.

Rafique said the progress of Gombe State and Nigeria at large depended on how well multidimensional poverty among children was tackled.

She added that addressing child poverty remained key to ensuring that children in the state are better protected, grow well, and contribute to development.

According to Rafique, UNICEF is supporting the state to expand social protection programmes, improve healthcare access, and tackle severe child food poverty.

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The UN agency, she said, would also support training, planning, and budgeting exercises at LGA level to address child poverty.

“According to the data collected by the household survey, seven out of 10 children are suffering from some form of multidimensional poverty.

“This is a high level of multidimensional poverty that we see in Gombe and other states as well.

“We don’t want any child to suffer any form of multidimensional poverty, but 70 per cent of children are involved, which is why UNICEF is involved.

“Some of the LGAs with high levels of deprivation are Dukku, Balanga, and Nafada.

“We want to concentrate on the most deprived LGAs, but also within LGAs, the most deprived areas where children are suffering the most, reaching the poorest of the poor,” she said.

Also speaking, Jalo Ali, Permanent Secretary, Gombe State Ministry of Finance, overseeing the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, urged participants to leverage the training to enhance their capacities.

Represented by Musa Babaji, Director of Administration and Finance in the Ministry of Finance, Ali tasked participants to adopt cross-sector thinking about the theme of the workshop, noting that poverty facing children in the state is multidimensional.

“It (child poverty) involves so many things, because it is called multidimensional; therefore, there is a need for cross-sector thinking.

“Such thinking is focused on solutions that are measurable, practicable, and people-oriented to achieve the purpose of this workshop,” he said.

About 66 officials drawn from the 11 LGAs in the state are participating in the workshop.

(NAN)