When it comes to reports and commentaries on malnutrition in Katsina State, one troubling trend keeps recurring: many analysts focus only on the tragedy, while ignoring the determined efforts already underway to reverse it. Bukar Bulama Bukarti’s recent commentary is a clear example. He was quick to highlight the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) report on child deaths but omitted the government’s concrete response, painting a picture of indifference where there has been none.
Governor Malam Dikko Umaru Radda did not brush aside the MSF report or dismiss it as propaganda. He accepted it as a wake-up call and immediately set machinery in motion. A Special Technical Committee was inaugurated, its findings submitted, and its recommendations are already being implemented.
Among the most decisive measures:
- Release of 90,000 bags of grains purchased last year for emergency use, distributed directly to the most vulnerable households identified by the committee.
- Establishment of Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP) Centres in all 34 LGAs, bringing life-saving treatment closer to children and families.
- Revitalization of Stabilisation Centres to meet minimum standards for infrastructure, equipment, and staffing.
- Approval of a Tom Brown and RUTF factory in Katsina, providing sustainable, homegrown solutions to malnutrition while boosting jobs and the economy.
These come on top of earlier actions: ₦500 million counterpart funding to UNICEF, expansion of 185 OTP centres and 17 Stabilisation Centres, monthly LG contributions of ₦1 million each, the ANRiN project which has reached over 3 million beneficiaries, and a multi-sectoral nutrition plan involving MSF, UNICEF, and WFP.
Ironically, some of the most serious obstacles have not come from government, but from within affected communities themselves. Reports show parents selling Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) meant for their children, and in some cases, deliberately inducing sickness in children to access more food supplements to resell. Worse still, certain health workers have been implicated in this abuse.
The Governor has drawn a clear line: any diversion of food or therapeutic supplies will be punished decisively. He has directed the use of mobile courts to prosecute saboteurs and warned that no staff or parent caught tampering with life-saving items will be spared.
Most recently, Governor Radda welcomed a delegation of French parliamentarians and senior MSF officials from Paris. They toured the Turai Yar’adua Hospital, reviewed interventions, and commended Katsina’s proactive measures. They pledged partnership in nutrition and food security, reinforcing the government’s position that malnutrition is a global challenge requiring global solidarity.
Meanwhile, the Tom Brown Factory project and local RUTF production proposals underline the administration’s resolve to find homegrown, sustainable answers to malnutrition, beyond emergency interventions.
The issue is not whether malnutrition exists in Katsina — it tragically does. The real question is whether government is acting. The facts show it is: with heavy investments, international partnerships, agricultural support, and community health programmes. What commentators like Bukarti leave out is as important as what they highlight. Balanced journalism requires telling both sides: the pain of loss and the progress of response.
If we truly care about the children, we must confront not only government’s duty but also the community sabotage that undermines it. Katsina is not in denial; it is fighting on multiple fronts. To suggest otherwise is not just unfair to the government — it is unfair to the very children whose lives we all want to save.