BY EVELYN DADU, ABUJA – Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari on Wednesday in Benin, the Edo State capital commended wives of State governors for their sustained commitment in championing Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) Advocacy in the states.
Mrs Buhari noted that this is a significant milestone towards reducing the high rate of mortality among women and children.
The wife of the President, who was speaking during an RMNCAH+N Advocacy training Workshop for wives of governors and their technical officers, organized by Aisha Buhari Foundation at Government House, Edo State, called on them to take full advantage of the workshop and perfect their skills and strategies in making this achievable within the shortest possible time.
Mrs. Buhari, who was represented by Mrs. Grace Chamah, wife of the former military Administrator of Katsina and Kebbi states, said that as wives of governors and chief advocates for Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) in their states, they need to be equipped, better positioned and informed about the contextual terrains and workable solutions to problems that have contributed to give us the poor indices in Nigeria.
This, she said, is the objective that the training seeks to achieve, adding that maternal and child deaths happen in all states; and except every one takes responsibility and strategic action to address the issues in their immediate regions, they may remain unchanged and even grow worse.
She reiterated that her project, Future Assured has done a lot to contribute to the acceleration of efforts to End Preventable Maternal, New born and Child deaths through advocacy and action.
According to her; “One of these actions is the training workshop, which has now been held in all the geopolitical zones of the country.
“This advocacy training holding in Benin City is the last of the trainings held in the six geopolitical zones and I hope that the results will reverberate nationwide.”
Earlier, the wife of the Edo state governor and host of the event, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki, said that Nigeria has poor indices on maternal and infant mortality, saying this is enough reason to key into the initiatives of the wife of the President.
Mrs Obseki therefore commended the wife of the President for the training and her passion in undertaking the Future Assured Programme saying that it touches the very fabric of society and borders on the welfare of the next generation.
She further said; “I have followed in her footsteps in this area and have embarked on a project to reduce the incidence of neonatal deaths in Edo state through a project called No Pikin Go Die for Edo State.
“The project is aimed at ensuring that every baby born in Edo State receives requisite care and handling at birth in order to survive the “golden” first month of life.”
Goodwill messages were delivered by Kori Habib of UNFPA and Adebayo Adesola of Catholic Relief Services.
