Jigawa, Kebbi Top Poverty List

from This Day

Atatistics released on the level of poverty in the country, indicate that 10 states with the highest incidence of poverty in the country are from the north, while same number of states topped the list of the lowest poverty level.

Assistant country representative of the United Nations International Children�s Fund (UNICEF), Kaduna zone, Mrs Mahera Khatun, disclosed this in Minna, during a visit to acquaint Governor Mu�azu Babangida Aliyu and members of the executive council with the FGN/UNICEF Programme of Cooperation and the role of the state in Programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Khatun, in a breakdown of the poverty level ravaging most northern states said Jigawa State has the highest with 95 per cent, while Kebbi State came second with 90 per cent.Khatun attributed increased poverty level to negligence of women and children, without which the future of any state cannot be guaranteed.

UNICEF programme in any country is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Nigeria is a signatory to both conventions and all programmes of cooperation aimed at realising the rights of children and women are mostly violated by states in the north, Khatun said.

Niger State government in the past 10years have failed to honour payment of counterpart funding, to enable UNICEF and other donor agencies support it educationally, in the area of agriculture and health.Meanwhile, Governor Babangida Aliyu has promised that his administration will promptly pay counterpart funds, to enable the Agency support it in improving the peoples' iving conditions.