By Musa Ubandawaki, Sokoto

SOKOTO – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in partnership with the Sokoto State Ministry of Health and the Sokoto Contributory Healthcare Scheme, has launched a programme to provide free medical services to 15,400 vulnerable residents of the state.

The initiative, unveiled on Tuesday, is designed to bridge critical gaps in healthcare coverage, especially for disadvantaged groups often excluded from the state’s social safety net.

As part of the programme, about 3,000 households currently missing from the state’s social register will be captured to ensure they benefit from health and social welfare interventions. To aid the process, UNICEF has donated three laptops, 200 tablets, and 200 power banks to strengthen data management and improve service delivery.

Speaking at the event, UNICEF Country Representative, Mrs. Wafa Saied, announced that the organization would provide ₦500 million as counterpart funding to boost nutrition supply across Sokoto. This complements the ₦500 million already committed by the state government to scale up nutrition programmes for children and mothers.

Mrs. Saied praised the Sokoto government’s commitment to health and human capital development, saying: “We are impressed with the priority given to healthcare and nutrition in Sokoto’s budgetary allocation. UNICEF will continue to stand with the state to ensure vulnerable families have access to quality health services.”

Deputy Governor Idris Muhammad Gobir, who represented the state government, described the intervention as life-saving and reaffirmed the administration’s resolve to expand healthcare access across communities. He stressed that health currently commands the largest share of Sokoto’s 2024 and 2025 budgets, underscoring the government’s determination to improve citizens’ well-being.

Observers say the intervention marks one of the strongest collaborations between UNICEF and Sokoto State in recent years, signaling a renewed push toward building an inclusive healthcare system that leaves no one behind.