Adamawa Journalists Urged to Champion Child Welfare Ahead of 2027 Elections

YOLA —By Ojoma Yusuf,Yola

Journalists in Adamawa State have been urged to make the wellbeing of children a major focus of public discourse ahead of the 2027 general elections by demanding clear and measurable commitments from political candidates.

The call was made during a public financing for children engagement held in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), with support from the Bauchi State Government through the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and Multilateral Coordination.

The participants were urged to engage candidates of political parties and ensure that issues affecting children are reflected in their campaign promises and political agendas.

Journalists were specifically advised to move beyond reporting campaign promises and political rhetoric by asking candidates how their proposed programmes for children would be financed, how many children would benefit and when implementation would commence.

Speaking at the event, UNICEF Education Specialist, Abdurrahman Ibrahim Ado, who represented the Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Bauchi Field Office, Dr. Nhuzhat Rafique, described journalists as critical players in the electoral process.

Ado urged journalists to use their platforms to subject political candidates to specific questions about their plans and financial commitments towards improving children’s welfare.

According to him, the media should track public resources from the budget proposal stage through legislative approval, release and expenditure, up to the point of determining the actual impact on beneficiaries.

He also urged journalists to investigate whether adequate resources were being proposed for children’s priorities in the ongoing budget cycle, particularly in education, nutrition, child protection, social protection, and water, sanitation and hygiene.

The UNICEF official further called on journalists to ensure that candidates explain not only what they intend to do for children but also the financial implications and mechanisms for implementing such promises.

Also speaking, one of the resource persons, Ambrose Frama, said governments should begin the budgeting process by identifying the real needs of children through consultations with communities, schools, parents and the children themselves.

Frama urged policymakers to identify the most urgent needs and translate them into realistic financial commitments capable of producing tangible results.

He stressed that the success of a child-friendly budget should not be measured by the amount allocated on paper alone, but by the number of children reached, the quality of services delivered and measurable improvements in their lives.

Another resource person, Benjamin Shido-Ikwi Sunday, called on journalists to integrate children’s issues into election interviews and political debates ahead of the 2027 polls.

He challenged journalists to ask candidates how many out-of-school children they planned to return to school, the estimated cost of such interventions and how they intended to finance them.

Sunday said candidates should also be questioned about their commitments to maternal and child healthcare, nutrition, child protection, prevention of abuse and violence, and the elimination of child labour.

The participants also called on the Adamawa State Government to make children’s welfare a cross-sectoral budget priority through deliberate investments in education, healthcare, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, child protection and social protection.

They stressed that the wellbeing of children should become a key consideration in assessing political candidates and government performance ahead of the 2027 elections.

The stakeholders maintained that politicians, governments and society at large must be held accountable for the welfare and future of children, insisting that investment in children should be treated as an essential component of sustainable development.