The Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) has formally requested the Kano State House of Assembly to allocate funds and guarantee the complete execution of the Free Maternal and Child Healthcare Law in the state’s 2026 budget. This appeal was made in a memo during the public hearing for the 2026 budget at the Coronation Hall. CHRICED expressed significant concern to the legislators that the law, despite being passed and signed in 2023, remains unimplemented two and a half years later. The organization stated this delay is disrespectful both to the Assembly, which worked hard to enact the legislation, and to the citizens of Kano State who are intended to benefit from it. CHRICED noted that even with regular budgetary allocations to the health, education, and social sectors, conditions in the state, particularly in rural areas, are still inadequate, and preventable deaths of mothers and children continue to occur. The group presented data from its recent Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA), which surveyed ninety-one Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities across eleven local government areas. The assessment found that numerous facilities are missing essential infrastructure like reliable electricity, clean water, and functional delivery rooms. They reported that local government areas such as Kibiya and Gwarzo showed infrastructure readiness below twenty-four percent, contributing to low usage of health services, and that approximately forty-six percent of patients still have to pay out of their own pockets at PHCs that are meant to offer affordable services. CHRICED also raised the issue of frequent shortages of medications, noting that critical drugs like Magnesium Sulphate were unavailable for about half of the days in a month. The organization concluded that these widespread failures result in an unacceptably high risk of maternal and child mortality, where every preventable death devastates a family and weakens the community. While acknowledging existing initiatives such as the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation and Initiatives (MAMII) and the Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp), CHRICED insisted that these would not achieve their goals without the full activation of the Free Maternal and Child Healthcare Law. The group strongly urged the Assembly to immediately establish the Free Maternal and Child Health Consultative Council, as mandated by the law, and to include specific, dedicated funding in the 2026 budget to make the law operational. They also called for stronger legislative oversight to ensure that the allocated funds lead to tangible improvements in health services throughout the state. CHRICED concluded its memorandum by telling the Speaker and Honourable Members that history would judge the Assembly not by the number of laws passed, but by the number of lives saved by those laws, viewing the 2026 budget as a key chance to prioritize life, dignity, and accountability for the people of Kano State. The organization stated its readiness to support the Assembly in ensuring that governance benefits the public, hoping the budget would be remembered as the moment Kano translated promises into action, laws into lifelines, and allocations into real improvements in quality of life.
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