Mary Donatus
Bauchi
The Bauchi State Government has re-iterated his determination to continue to partner with the United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF) to make life better for children and women.
“Despite the harsh economic challenges we are facing, we have continued to honour our obligations in our partnership with UNICEF by paying our counterpart funding,” said Governor Abubakar.
Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, stated this while receiving the UNICEF Nigeria Country Representative, Mohamed Malick Fall, in his office in Bauchi utter day.
Fall was in the office of the Governor to thank him for the condolences extended to UNICEF by the government and people of Bauchi State over the sudden death of Dr. Abdulai Kaikai, Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Field Office Bauchi.
Governor Abubakar while condoling with UNICEF noted that in the more than two years he had worked with the late Kaikai, he found him as “a very active person who was very passionate about issues of children and women and equally dedicated to his duties,” stressing that the sudden death of the UNICEF official was a big loss to the state.
“He was not just a staff of UNICEF but a citizen of Bauchi State, having lived in, and worked for the people of Bauchi. Therefore, his sudden death is not just a loss to UNICEF but a loss to the government and people of Bauchi State as well,” said Governor Abubakar.
Earlier in his remarks, Fall said he was in the governor’s office to condole with the Governor on the death of Kaikai; noting that having worked with the governor very closely, the death of Kaikai was bound to have an impact on the Bauchi State governor and the people of the state.
Mr. Fall further said that his visit was also to reassure the governor and people of Bauchi State that UNICEF would continue to collaborate with the state on child survival, development and protection issues, despite the gap created by the death of its Bauchi chief of field Office.
“Kaikai would have wanted to us to continue where he stopped; and that is what we are going to do. The greatest tribute we can pay to him is to continue to support the state government on interventions that improve the lives of children and women,” said Mr. Fall.
The UNICEF Representative said he would be returning to meet with the governor very soon to discuss how to strengthen the partnership between UNICEF and the Bauchi State government.