The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has partnered with the Sokoto State Government to provide free healthcare and nutrition support for 15,400 vulnerable residents, in a move aimed at strengthening access to medical services and tackling malnutrition.
The initiative, unveiled on Tuesday in collaboration with the Sokoto State Ministry of Health and the state’s contributory healthcare scheme, will extend coverage to disadvantaged households currently excluded from the state’s social register, officials said.
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About 3,000 families are expected to be newly enrolled to benefit from healthcare and welfare interventions.
To strengthen the scheme, UNICEF has donated equipment, including laptop computers, 200 tablets and 200 power banks, which officials said would improve data management and the administration of healthcare services.
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The organisation’s new country representative, Wafa Saied, announced that UNICEF would commit ₦500m to scale up nutrition programmes in the state.
The pledge matches a similar sum already set aside by the Sokoto government to tackle malnutrition among children and mothers.
“We are impressed with the priority given to healthcare and nutrition in Sokoto’s budgetary allocation,” Saied said. “UNICEF will continue to stand with Sokoto State to ensure vulnerable families have access to quality health services.”
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The state deputy governor, Idris Muhammad Gobir, who represented the administration at the launch, welcomed the partnership, describing it as a “life-saving intervention”.
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He added that health spending had been given the largest allocation in Sokoto’s 2024 and 2025 budgets.
Observers said the programme reflects one of the most significant collaborations between UNICEF and Sokoto in recent years, signalling renewed efforts to build a more inclusive healthcare system in the state.
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