UNICEF Pushes State Assemblies to Prioritise Children in Budget Planning, Fund Releases

Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called on state Houses of Assembly to ensure children’s interests are prioritised from state planning to federal budget preparation and fund releases.

Speaking at a Capacity Building Workshop on Public Financing Mechanisms, organised by UNICEF and partners, held in Kano Tuesday, UNICEF Chief Social Policy Specialist, Isaac Otarbor, said the goal was to see more resources deployed to children across all levels of government.

Otarbor said, “We are interested to see more resources are deployed to children and what that means right from the state planning, federal level up to budget preparation, national planning.

“And all these releases on education, health, nutrition must be protected to make sure interest of children are taken on board at state, federal levels.”

The specialist listed key sectors that must be protected in budget processes, including education, health, malnutrition and child protection stressing that budget preparation and fund releases must reflect children’s needs to guarantee real impact.

He stated, “We are very interested to see that interest of children are taken care of and related to budget, preparation of releases is taken care of. We want to see children go to school, reduction of child poverty.”

He lamented that child poverty in Nigeria remained multidimensional and severe, but said UNICEF was committed to working with lawmakers to reduce it through proper financing and accountability.

The workshop organised specifically for Kaduna State House of Assembly members aimed to equip them with tools to track and influence public spending for children.

Speaking at the programme, one of the facilitators, Professor Olumide Ayodele, said the workshop was designed to deepen the knowledge of Kaduna State House of Assembly members on public financial management principles and practices.

Ayodele explained that the training would reinforce members’ understanding of budgeting, fund tracking, and oversight processes required for effective legislative responsibility.

He added that the session will also strengthen the roles of state assembly members in ensuring accountability, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency in the use of public funds, for improved service delivery to Kaduna residents

Chairman of Kaduna State House Committee on Appropriation, Shehu Musa, described the workshop as timely, saying it would equip lawmakers with the knowledge to allocate scarce resources more effectively in future budgets.

Musa said the training was coming at the right time as the Assembly prepared for upcoming budget cycles, adding that proper allocation is key to addressing critical needs in education, health, and infrastructure.

“We are getting all the knowledge that will help us in doing our oversight functions and to make sure what is budgeted and expended is being utilised,” he said,