Katsina State Governor, Malam Dikko Radda, has unveiled a new development framework and a General Household Survey covering the state’s 34 Local Government Areas, declaring that credible data would henceforth play a central role in government planning, budgeting and resource allocation.
Radda, who spoke at the unveiling of five strategic development documents at Government House, Katsina, said his administration was determined to move away from assumption-based planning and adopt evidence-driven policies that respond directly to residents’ needs.
The governor, represented by his Deputy, Faruk Jobe, said the new data would give the government a clearer understanding of households’ socio-economic conditions across the state and help it measure the impact of its interventions.
The documents unveiled include the Katsina State Development Plan, State Social Protection Policy, State Nutrition Policy, Multi-Sectoral Strategic Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition, General Household Survey Report and State Statistical Yearbook.
Radda described the household survey as a critical instrument for effective governance, saying it contains information on poverty, employment, livelihoods, agriculture, education, healthcare, housing, water supply, sanitation and access to other basic services.
According to him, the information generated through the exercise would enable the government to identify communities and groups requiring urgent intervention while ensuring that available resources are directed to areas of greatest need.
He said, ‘Credible data is the foundation of effective planning. It enables us to understand where we are, identify the gaps and determine the interventions required to achieve measurable improvements in the lives of our people.
‘Going forward, we will increasingly target our interventions based on evidence rather than assumptions and objectively measure the outcomes of our policies and programmes’.
The governor said the Katsina State Development Plan was designed to provide a long-term roadmap for sustainable economic growth and human development.
He listed agriculture, education, healthcare, infrastructure, industrialisation, environmental sustainability, digital innovation, security, good governance, and youth empowerment among the plan’s key priorities.
Radda said his administration had already made significant investments in critical sectors, particularly education and healthcare, as part of efforts to improve human capital development and strengthen public services.
In the health sector, he said the government had upgraded healthcare facilities, provided medical equipment and recruited additional health workers to improve access to quality medical services.
He added that the administration was also implementing reforms in the education sector, including constructing Smart Schools and recruiting teachers to address manpower shortages and improve learning outcomes.
On security, Radda said the situation had improved considerably across many parts of the state, allowing farmers to return to their farms and economic activities to resume.
He, however, acknowledged that isolated attacks were still being recorded in some areas, stressing that the government would continue to work with security agencies and communities to consolidate the gains made.
The governor also highlighted the administration’s social protection interventions, saying more than 50,555 beneficiaries had received assistance so far through the state’s Zakat programme.
He disclosed that more than N1.9 billion had been mobilised under the programme to support vulnerable households and improve the welfare of disadvantaged residents.
Radda further revealed that the state had invested more than N1.7 billion in nutrition interventions, complemented by a N500 million counterpart fund, as part of efforts to tackle malnutrition and improve maternal and child health.
He said the various policies and strategic plans were interconnected and designed to provide a coordinated response to poverty, food insecurity, malnutrition and other socio-economic challenges confronting the state.
The governor urged Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to ensure that their programmes and budgets were aligned with the newly unveiled frameworks.
He said effective implementation would require coordination across government institutions, development partners, traditional institutions, communities and other stakeholders.
The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Malam Malik Anas, said the General Household Survey would strengthen the state’s planning and budgeting processes.
Anas said reliable statistics would enable the government to establish clear priorities, set realistic targets and monitor the implementation of development programmes.
He urged MDAs to use the survey findings to design and implement their programmes rather than relying on outdated statistics or estimates.
The Commissioner said the new development frameworks would also improve accountability by making it easier to track government expenditure against measurable development outcomes.
The Statistician-General of Katsina State, Prof. Saifullahi Sani Ibrahim, said findings from the household survey indicated improvements in several development indicators but also exposed areas where sustained government intervention was required.
He said the survey would provide a baseline against which future development programmes could be assessed.
According to him, the availability of current and reliable statistics would improve the quality of decisions taken by the government and other stakeholders working to address development challenges in the state.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) commended the Katsina State Government for strengthening its evidence-based planning architecture.
The organisation pledged continued support for the state in areas including data systems, nutrition, healthcare, education, social protection and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).
UNICEF stressed the importance of using credible data to ensure that development interventions reached the people who needed them most, particularly children, women and vulnerable households.
The unveiling came against the backdrop of growing efforts by state governments to strengthen planning and public expenditure management amid competing demands for limited resources.
For Katsina, the administration said the new development plan and household survey would provide the evidence required to identify development gaps, prioritise interventions and track progress across the state’s 34 local government areas.
Meanwhile, Governor Radda received stakeholders from Dutsinma and pledged continued government support for the area’s development.
Receiving the delegation, the governor described Dutsinma as his home and assured the stakeholders that issues raised by the people would receive appropriate attention.
He said his administration remained committed to equitable development across Katsina State, stressing that no community would be deliberately excluded from government programmes.
Radda urged the people of Dutsinma to continue supporting government initiatives and to contribute constructively to the development of their communities.
The governor’s engagements with Dutsinma stakeholders further underscored his administration’s emphasis on grassroots participation, with the government seeking to combine household-level data with direct community engagement to determine development priorities.