By Danmusa Mohammed & Margaret Akolo

Nasarawa State Government has concluded the payment of the sum of N17 million as its outstanding counterpart cash contribution (GCCC) to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The state governor, Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma made this known at the 2008 World Population Day celebration which had the theme "Plan Your Future, Plan Your Family," held at Ibrahim Abacha Youth Centre, Lafia.

Represented by the state commissioner for information and orientation, Alhaji Abdullahi Mustapha Aliyu, Governor Doma said, the payment was made in recognition of the need to achieve sustainability of the programme in the state.

The governor, noted that issues of reproductive health and population were of utmost importance to the development plans of states, promising better cooperation with the donor agencies for the progress of Nasarawa State.

Also speaking, the UNFPA executive director, Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, who was represented by Ekerria Esele, the state UNFPA accountant, thanked the state governor for the full payment of its GCCC, calling on all governments to ensure universal access to reproductive health by the year 2015.

Delivering a paper entitled "Family planning as a tool for safe motherhood," the guest speaker, Dr. Kabir Musa Ibrahim, a consultant gyneacologist, who is also the Emir of Azara lamented the rate at which women die yearly during pregnancy and birth.

He disclosed that over 90% of these deaths occured in sub-saharan Africa and Asia, with Nigeria contributing about 10% of total world maternal mortality.

The royal father stated that measures which could help in reducing the high rate of infant and maternal mortality included expansion of community-based distribution of contraception, use of registered and non-registered pharmacies, community workers and social marketing programmes.

Dr. Ibrahim also stressed the need for family planning to be discussed at antenatal/gyneacological clinics, advising that such discussions should go hand-in-hand with the provision of basic formal education to the people.

In his remarks, the executive director of centre for peace and rural development (CENPERD), Audu Blackgold Sanni, identified good food as the best way to sustain the health of mother and child, calling on family heads to always be conscious of the health of their dependents.

He applauded the state governor for the payment of GCCC and solicited for more support to NGO’s based in the state.