The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), has pledged cooperation and support to the incoming administration of the Governor-elect of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah.
UNICEF made the pledge during a courtesy visit to the Governor-elect by the organisation’s senior officials at the Old Government Lodge, Enugu.
In their remarks, the team leaders, Prof Hamidu Ponfon, who is the Chief of Social Policy, UNICEF Country Office Abuja, and the Chief of Field Office UNICEF Enugu, Mrs Juliet Chiluwe, expressed their pleasure at the content of Mbah’s manifesto.
They noted that his social contract with the people of the state, which includes the planning mechanism component, the social protection component that talks about poverty eradication from Enugu State and the public financial management framework, all touched on critical elements that align with the objectives of UNICEF.
The international organisation promised to continue supporting Enugu State and increase its activities in the state during the administration of Dr. Mbah by giving a comprehensive support in the areas of development planning, strengthening of the state’s management system, public financial system with respect to social policies as they affect women and children, and boosting the health sector for improved maternal and neonatal wellbeing.
Dr. Mbah, on his part, thanked the UNICEF team for the enormous goodwill towards him and the people of Enugu State and promised an even stronger partnership between UNICEF and state government during his administration.
Reiterating his commitment to disrupting the existing revenue model to raise more funds to address the many challenges facing Enugu State, he stressed that his administration would strengthen primary healthcare, security and deployment of public accountability charter through an e-governance structure to enable Ndi Enugu view government activities on dashboards.
