By Ankeli Emmanuel (In Sokoto State)
Stakeholders from the Sokoto State Arabic and Islamic Education Board, the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, and that of Zakat and Waqf Endowment Commission in collaboration with United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), traditional and religious leaders as well as those from the academics and civil society organisations, on Friday, endorsed and validated a two year work plan designed for Almajiri and out-of-school adolescent girls in Sokoto state.
In the work plan, the implementation will commenced with 6 local government areas in the first year before extending to the remaining 17 Councils in the second year to cover the entire 23 Local Government Areas of the State.
Presenting a blow-by- blow account of the two year work plan, Mr Pius Uwamanua, UNICEF Sokoto State Field Office Child Protection Specialists, said the validation meeting will help bring all stakeholders on board to ensure that the project gets more acceptability.
While noting that they have 230,535 verified and documented Almajiri and out-of-school girls in Sokoto state, Mr Pius Uwamanua said the two year work plan is segmented into 5 separate pillars for effective service delivery and monitoring.
The breakdown of the pillars, according to him, include a Review and Strengthening of Appropriate Legal Standards; Including Education Reforms; Support Inclusive and Equitable Quality Learning for all of the Out-of-School Children like Almajiri and other at Risk children.
The third and fourth pillars include, Strengthening Child Protection and Child Welfare System; Strengthening Social Protection System at Household and Community Levels and the fifth been the last, covers Support Skills Acquisition; Life Skills (Including Formal Education) Welfare Readiness and Empowerment of Adolescents and Young People.
It was disclosed that plans are also in place to have a child protection multipurpose based center which will be more of a safe center for children in the State, Mr Pius Uwamaua further clarified that such places will be managed by people of proven characters.
The Arabic and Islamic Education Board, through its Executive Secretary, Dr Umar Altine Dandinmahe whose board is leading the implementation, said every segment of the work plan was in tandem with their tradition and religion and geared towards providing the best care for vulnerable children in the state.
Adopting the two year work plan on behalf of the traditional leaders, the Sarkin Yakin Gagi, Sani Umar Jabbi, said they owe UNICEF and other development partners unlimited gratitude for all their supports to Nigeria and Sokoto state in particular.
For the religious leaders, Muhammad Buda Mandera, a Deputy Director from the Community Health Services, Sokoto State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, said they are in full support of the validated two year work plan and will be willing to work with UNICEF and other stakeholders for it's implementation.
Speaking for the academics, Dr Balbasatu Ibrahim, the Director College of Arts and Humanity of the Umar Ali Shinkafi Polytechnic, Sokoto, said the two year work plan was very apt and well articulated.
In their separate vote of thanks, Sokoto State Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Barrister Aisha Muhammed Dantsoho and Malam Lawal Maidoki, the Chairman, Zakat and Endorsement Commission, expressed satisfactions with the five proposed operational pillars highlighted by UNICEF.
They also thanked stakeholders for there critical assessment and valid inputs which gave birth to the validated outcome. NNL.
