The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has introduced a Cash Transfer Programme to poor families in Zamfara State.
The fund’s Zonal Officer in Sokoto, Mr Mohammad Muhiuddin, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in an interview in Gusau, on Wednesday.
He said that it was hoped that the programme would “bring back the huge number of out of school children to school’’.
The UNICEF official explained that currently, the exact number of beneficiaries was being worked out, but that over 40,000 school-age boys and girls from some selected local government areas in Zamfara and Kebbi States would benefit from the programme.
He said: “this will ensure an improvement in the rights of children and women to survival, development, protection and participation’’.
According to him, the three local government areas of Bakura, Maradun and Zurmi were selected in Zamfara for the take-off of the programme.
Similarly, he said the fund had expanded its Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) intervention to three additional local government areas of Bakura, Maru and Shinkafi.
This, he noted, would add to the existing local government areas of Birnin-Magaji, Talata-Mafara and Tsafe, where the WASH intervention had been operating.
He said that the WASH intervention was in line with UNICEF’s goal of increasing access to safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene. (NAN)
ABA/PIO/PIO