Kogi Emerged ‘Best Performing State’ in World Bank’s ANRIN Project, Commissioner Reveals

Ibrahim Oyewale in Lokoja

Kogi State emerged as the ‘Best Performing State’ in the World Bank-supported Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) project out of the 11 states assessed for the project’s Community-Based Nutrition Service Delivery.

The State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Zakari Usman disclosed this when he spoke to journalists on the feat in the health sector in Lokoja, yesterday.

Usman explained that the state government received the Certificate of Achievement as Best Performing State: Community-Based Nutrition Service Delivery (NSA Performance +DLI) at the sixth ANRIN event, held in Abuja.

He stated that the ANRiN project, supported by the World Bank, was a priority health-care project aimed at increasing the utilisation of quality, cost-effective nutrition services for lactating women, adolescent girls and children to reduce illnesses and enhance their overall wellbeing.

He added that the 11 states including Kogi, Abia, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo, Plateau, and Katsina were assessed.

The Commissioner stated that the drivers of the project who are non-state actors were recruited through the World Bank’s procurement processes, noting that participating states, through the provision of basic health needs, including deworming for children (12-59 months), IFA supplementation for pregnant women, malaria care for pregnant women, among others, would be able to reduce infant and maternal mortality drastically.

Usman said owing to the high performance in giving basic nutrition services to women and children, the nutrition indices of Kogi State’s women and children were expected to increase greatly while illnesses would reduce drastically.

According to him, Kogi State’s Gross Domestic Product would also increase with increase in functional population and reduction of maternal and infant mortality, among others.

Usman explained that the project was actively carried out in Kogi State for five years, adding that the states was able to achieve the first position because of the commitment of Governor Yahaya Bello to the project and to the revitalisation of the health sector in general.

Usman said, “His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello, paid the commitment fund, every year, up to date. There was effective sensitisation of beneficiaries, diligent supervision and monitoring by the PIU, Community ownership of the project by Kogites and excellent managerial ability by the Commissioner of Health.”