Dutse, April 11, 2025
Stakeholders in Family Planning in Jigawa state, have appealed for increased funding and availability of commodities by the government, to enable women access quality family planning services.
Some of the women who spoke with our Correspondent to commemorate the Safe motherhood day 2025, explained their predicament in accessing free family services in the state.
Mrs Zaliha Usman, 25, said she has gained insight on family planning during her previous ante-natal days and she seeked her husband’s consent to obtain the services.
“Since we made the decision about five months ago, my husband and I have been checking many facilities in Dutse, to access the services but we were told that there are no commodities,” she lamented.
A mother of five, Madaniya Habibu 26, said she needs to space to properly take care of her five children, yet she was asked to buy commodities and the services be provided to her at a facility.
“Please the government should assist us by giving us the commodities which were earlier distributed for free at the hospitals, ” she said.
A service provider at Limachi primary healthcare, Mrs Amina Adamu said there is an increasing number of women willing to begin family planning but only want to access it through free commodity distribution.
“We usually ask them to purchase the commodities and access the free services at the facility, but they usually grumble that government has been providing the commodity free of charge,” she said,
She added that many men in remote areas of Jigawa state allow their wives to access the services especially with the economic downtown, yet they rely solely on free commodities.
Mr Ankale Kongude, The Challenge Initiative’s Program Manager in Jigawa, stressed that the main pressing issue concerning Family Planning in Jigawa state is commodity procurement.
According to him, the last time the state procured commodities, was in 2022, saying that there was budget allocation for the commodity in 2023 and 2024, yet they were never purchased.
He explained that the goal of TCI in Jigawa, is to remind about Implimentation, Efficiency, Sustainability and Self reliance.
Kongude therefore, called on the state to ensure sustainability of the project when TCI finally exits, although domestication of procurement of Family Planning commodity is in the pipeline.
Mrs Uwani Abdullahi, coordinator of a Community Based organisation, “Matan Karkara,” also highlighted the need to give women support in family planning.
She explained that through their community advocacy, they realise how women battle to shape the moral conduct of their children.
The women she said, suffer a lot to provide good upbringing to their children and need enough time fo nurse their children before they add a number to the household.
Mrs Abdullahi appealed to the government to strengthen the services and make them free for women to access, in order to have a more meaningful future for the communities and families.
National Safe Motherhood Day, is observed annually on 11th April to raise awareness on significant risks faced by women during pregnancy and childbirth.
It is an initiative of the United Nations launched in 1987, to ensure that women go through pregnancy and childbirth safely and its reinforced by maternal mortality reduction in the MDGs of 2000-15.
Aisha Ahmed writes from Dutse, Jigawa State
