Sokoto State struggles with a worsening malnutrition crisis, with nearly half of the children assessed suffering from severe acute malnutrition. Yet, it has continued to underfund health services critical to tackling the emergency, while directing resources to less urgent priorities.
Amid an acute malnutrition crisis, Governor Ahmed Aliyu has announced increased monthly allocations to mosques and allowances for clerics — even as child malnutrition becomes a health emergency.
While commissioning a renovated Jumu’at mosque in Kware LGA, Mr. Aliyu said his administration had increased monthly cash allocations for mosques from ₦300,000 to ₦500,000. He also promised stipends for imams, deputies, and muazzins to “strengthen Islamic propagation” across the state.
But while mosques receive government subventions, children in Sokoto continue to suffer some of the worst malnutrition rates in the country.
A recent UNICEF report shows that 3.5 million Nigerian children face severe acute malnutrition (SAM), with more than 400,000 at risk of dying. Sokoto, one of the states most affected, has recorded alarming figures.
A Nigerian Red Cross survey in Wamako LGA found that up to 47.8 per cent of children assessed were suffering from SAM. The condition, caused by severe lack of nutrients, reduces immunity, stunts growth, and often leads to life-threatening infections such as cholera and typhoid.
The Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey also reports that child nutrition has worsened in the last five years, with a 40% rise in stunted growth.
Experts attribute this to poverty, inflation, persistent insecurity, and lack of access to clean water and medical care.
Yet, despite the enormous challenge, Sokoto’s health response remains weak. According to Cadre Harmonisé, a regional food security analysis group, only three of Sokoto’s six stabilisation centres for treating malnourished children are currently functional, all of them supported by the international aid group Action Against Hunger.
Experts Demand Action
Dr Kolawole Olanrewaju, a public health expert, told WikkiTimes that Sokoto’s crisis reflects “a dangerous failure of priorities.”
“Nutritional support programmes and investment in sustainable agriculture should be the government’s first line of action,” he said. “Instead, what we see is misplaced spending. The lives of children are at stake, and the consequences of inaction are lifelong — stunted growth, impaired brain development, and increased child mortality.”
Dr Olanrewaju argued that the timely release of the 15% health budget allocation could strengthen Sokoto’s Primary Health Care centres, provide clean water, and scale up nutrition interventions.
He also urged the state government to empower families with economic and health education so they can make better choices for their children.
“The government must treat nutrition as a public health emergency,” he added.
Silence from Officials
Efforts to get the Sokoto State Primary Health Care Development Agency to respond were unsuccessful. Repeated visits to the office of the Special Adviser on health, Dr Muhammad Bello, went unanswered. A letter submitted had not been responded to a week after.
Meanwhile, mothers, especially in rural communities, continue to watch their children waste away, forced to rely on overstretched aid-supported facilities.
