Governors of the seven North-West states have unanimously adopted the Renewed Hope Child Support Programme as a regional framework aimed at reducing multidimensional child poverty and accelerating human capital development across the region.
The decision was reached at the North-West High-Level Policy Dialogue on Reducing Multidimensional Poverty Through Scaled Social Protection Systems and Innovative Financing, held at the Government House in Kano under the auspices of the North-West Governors’ Forum (NWGF).
Read also: Affordable Housing: FG Advances 10,000 Units Across Nigeria
The forum brought together governors from Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states alongside representatives of the Federal Government, development partners, development finance institutions, traditional and religious institutions, civil society organisations and private sector stakeholders.
In a communiqué issued at the end of the dialogue, participants expressed concern over the region’s multidimensional poverty rate of 75.8 per cent, significantly higher than the national average of 63 per cent.
The communiqué noted that approximately 45.9 million people in the North-West are living in multiple forms of deprivation, with children bearing the greatest burden through limited access to education, healthcare, nutrition and social protection services.
The forum acknowledged ongoing interventions by federal and state governments, development partners and humanitarian agencies but observed that the scale of deprivation continues to exceed the reach of existing programmes.
To address the challenge, the governors endorsed the Renewed Hope Child Support Programme, anchored on the Universal Child Benefit concept, as the primary platform for identifying vulnerable children and linking them to essential education, healthcare, nutrition and social protection services.
As part of the resolutions adopted, the governors pledged to institutionalise the Universal Child Benefit through policy, legislative and administrative measures and integrate it into existing social protection systems and development plans.
The forum also set ambitious targets for the first six months of implementation, including the re-enrolment of at least 781,200 out-of-school children into formal education, support for the retention of over 1.3 million school-age children, and the enrolment of another 781,200 children into Early Childhood Care Development and Education (ECCDE) programmes.
Read also: Speaker Commissions Soba Projects to Boost Education, Healthcare
In the health sector, the states committed to enrolling at least 1.17 million vulnerable children into non-contributory health insurance schemes, ensuring full immunisation for at least 781,200 children under the age of five, and expanding access to maternal and child healthcare services.
To combat malnutrition, the governors resolved to provide nutrition support services to at least 781,200 malnourished children while reaching an equal number of mothers and caregivers through Infant and Young Child Feeding awareness and behavioural change programmes.
The forum further resolved to strengthen social protection systems by harmonising state social registers, validating and enrolling vulnerable households into the programme, integrating beneficiary databases with education and health information systems, and prioritising internally displaced persons, persons with disabilities and communities affected by insecurity.
Recognising the importance of sustainable financing, the governors committed to establishing dedicated child support and social protection budget lines in their respective states and progressively allocating no less than two per cent of annual state budgets to child-focused social protection interventions.
They also pledged to mobilise additional resources through development partners, philanthropic organisations, development finance institutions and private sector partnerships while exploring innovative financing mechanisms and Islamic social finance instruments such as Zakat and Waqf.
The communiqué highlighted the critical role of traditional rulers, religious leaders and community institutions in promoting school enrolment, healthcare utilisation, immunisation, birth registration, child nutrition and the elimination of harmful social practices affecting children and adolescents.
To ensure accountability and effective implementation, the forum approved the establishment of a North-West Child Development and Social Protection Coordination Mechanism under the NWGF Secretariat. The mechanism will coordinate implementation across states, facilitate peer learning, monitor progress, mobilise resources and publish periodic governors’ scorecards on child development indicators.
The governors adopted a six-month implementation framework covering July to December 2026, focusing on expanding and validating social registers, enrolling beneficiaries, improving education outcomes, scaling up health and nutrition interventions, and strengthening financing and accountability systems.
Read also: Federal Universities Get Green Light to Recruit Staff
The forum concluded with a call on the Federal Government, development partners, development finance institutions, private sector actors, philanthropic foundations, civil society organisations, traditional and religious institutions, and international humanitarian organisations to support the implementation of the programme.
Reaffirming their commitment, the governors pledged to work collectively to ensure that no child is left behind and to translate the outcomes of the dialogue into measurable actions capable of improving the lives of millions of vulnerable children and households across the North-West region.