The Sokoto State Government has commenced the screening of candidates for 250 slots under the Community Midwifery Scholarship and Bonding Scheme, an initiative aimed at addressing the shortage of skilled birth attendants in rural and underserved communities.
The 10-day screening exercise, which began on Tuesday, is being conducted at the Conference Hall of the State Ministry of Health, Shehu Kangiwa Secretariat, Sokoto.
The programme is being implemented under the European Union-funded Strengthening Access to Reproductive and Adolescent Health (SARAH) Programme, with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in collaboration with the Sokoto State Government.
Declaring the exercise open, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Alhaji Ibrahim Dingyadi, said the initiative was designed to provide young women and girls from underserved communities with professional midwifery training and ensure that they return to serve their communities after graduation.
Dingyadi said the state was seeking to identify and enrol 250 young women and adolescent girls from rural and underserved local government areas for community midwifery pre-service training during the 2026 academic cycle.
He described the initiative as an important intervention that would simultaneously expand educational opportunities for young women and address the shortage of skilled healthcare workers in rural communities.
According to him, applicants must meet specific eligibility requirements, including obtaining four O’Level credits in English Language, Biology and two other subjects.
He added that candidates must be young women or adolescent girls interested in pursuing careers in midwifery and must be residents or indigenes of the communities where they are expected to serve after graduation and employment.
Dingyadi said the ministry had appointed a Desk Officer to coordinate and monitor the screening exercise to ensure transparency and strict compliance with the programme’s requirements.
Also speaking, the UNFPA State Team Lead, Dr Rabiatu Sageer, said the screening process had been designed to meet the admission requirements of Community Midwifery Schools while also ensuring compliance with the bonding component of the scheme.
She said the programme was particularly significant for rural communities where limited access to skilled healthcare personnel continues to pose a challenge to maternal and newborn health.
“The essence of the bonding scheme is to ensure that the beneficiaries, after receiving their training, return to their respective communities and provide the much-needed maternal and newborn health services,” Sageer said.
She added that the intervention was aimed at developing a sustainable health workforce drawn from the communities themselves and familiar with their specific health needs.
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Sageer disclosed that the broader objective of the initiative was to train 500 indigenous health workers, who would be legally bonded to serve their respective communities after completing their training.
She said 250 beneficiaries would be selected under the 2026 cycle and enrolled in the two Community Midwifery Schools in Sokoto State.
The UNFPA official said the initiative formed part of broader efforts by the Sokoto State Government and its development partners to increase the availability of skilled birth attendants and improve access to reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health services.
The screening exercise is being supervised by the Sokoto State Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Umar Faruk Wurno, alongside officials of the Ministry of Health, UNFPA and other stakeholders.
The scheme is expected to strengthen the rural health workforce by producing community-based midwives who can provide essential maternal and newborn services, particularly in underserved areas of Sokoto State.
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