The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has started retrofitting 24 primary schools and healthcare facilities in Katsina State to improve climate resilience. The project, called Climate Resilient Infrastructure for Basic Services (CRIBS II), is funded by the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and targets facilities in Charanchi, Mai'adua, Mani and Dutsi Local Government Areas.
Uba Lawal, UNICEF Kano Field Office's Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Specialist, disclosed the details at the project's inception meeting in Katsina on Tuesday. He stated the upgrades will focus on water and sanitation systems to ensure uninterrupted education and healthcare during climate emergencies such as floods, droughts, heat stress or windstorms.
Lawal explained that the renovations will include rehabilitation of existing infrastructure and installation of climate-adaptive features. Contractors and supervisors will collaborate with government officials, and detailed renovation plans will be publicly displayed at each site to ensure transparency and accountability.
The CRIBS II project was first implemented in Kano and Jigawa States, where 84 facilities were upgraded—55 in Kano and 29 in Jigawa. While additional work continues in Jigawa, Katsina is now being included as part of the expansion. The initiative aims to safeguard children's access to essential services amid increasing climate-related disruptions.
UNICEF is upgrading 24 facilities in four Katsina LGAs while 84 were previously reached in Kano and Jigawa, raising questions about the selection criteria for delayed inclusion. Children in Katsina have gone without these resilience measures for longer despite similar climate risks. The staggered rollout suggests some areas wait while others receive timely interventions, even under the same programme. This uneven access could mean unequal protection for children across northern Nigeria.
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