The Yobe Government has expressed worry over the misuse and diversion of Nutrition Commodities popularly known as ready-to-use therapeutic food across the 17 local government areas of the state.
The Executive Secretary of the State Primary Healthcare Management Board, Babagana Kundi-Machina, disclosed this at a high-level stakeholders’ engagement organised by the state government in Damaturu, the state capital.
Machina revealed that the Yobe State government has invested millions of naira as matching grants in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to procure the ready-to-use therapeutic food, but they are being diverted by some individuals.
“Recently, the Yobe State government and UNICEF procured over 3,000 cartons of the nutritional food just to reduce the number of malnourished children, but they are being diverted. Even if the Yobe State government spends billions of naira and this attitude does not stop, we would still continue to face challenges,” he said.
Earlier, the State Nutrition Officer, Hadiza Maina-Adam, while briefing the stakeholders on the importance of the commodities and their function for malnourished children, lactating mothers, or others, noted that people are just taking them without a prescription, which is dangerous to health.
“This commodity is meant for children between 6 months and 23 months, but sometimes you see a child of 10 years taking it; we are really misusing it after the government spent millions of naira,” Maina-Adam said.
The meeting, which was held alongside security personnel, was aimed at creating awareness of theft, diversion, and misuse.
