Abbas Yushau Yusuf
A university Don Professor Abdulmumini Bala Ahmed has drawn the attention of Media and Civil society organizations to hold political leaders accountable on maternal and child Healthcare interventions in Kano state and Nigeria in general.
Professor AB Ahmed made the plea while presenting a paper titled An Overview of Maternal Health Interventions in Kano State: What is Worthy of Attention of Media and CSOs.
Professor AB Ahmed said infant and maternal mortality in Kano and Nigeria is one of the highest in sub-Saharan Africa and checkmating that becomes very necessary.
He said the death of a mother may be the beginning of poverty, malnutrition, lack of education.
According to the professor, AB said one of the things that increase maternal and infant mortality is Bureaucratic bottlenecks and inadequate accountability mechanisms.
Millions and Billions of Naira are budgeted in Kano every year for health care as according to the government is free but implementation becomes difficult.
On infrastructural facilities, the infrastructure is very dilapidated and needs to be revalidated.
Professor AB Ahmed said in the 15 LG’s of Kano state there is no Doctor to attend to hundreds of patients.
Among the problems that prevent smooth implementation of government interventions in the Health sector is the inability to release funds on time.
The media has a stake to sensitize the general public on that and the CSO’s have to knit to avoid interference from other quarters.
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The professor said anybody who prevents the timely release of funds should be exposed by the media for the world to know thereby putting adequate accountability mechanisms.
On his part, Mr. Chukuemaka Fred Agbata in his paper titled Deepening your digital presence, key tips and strategies for online journalists urged online journalists to develop high-quality content, diversify their operation and be mobile friendly.
He said there are many techniques including social media presence and interactive storytelling techniques which will make an impact on society.
Mr. Fred said one has to be exceptional and consistent in feeding the public with information that attracts attention and solves problems.
