By Princess Simon (Bureau Chief North Central, in Minna)
Niger state government has secured a grant from the United States of America (USA) to help protect the lives of over 36,000 malnourished women and children spread across 13 out of the 25 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.
The Permanent Secretary, Niger state Planning Commission, Hajia Aisha Usman disclosed this in an interview shortly after a pre-planning meeting with implementing Partners on, Preventing Malnutrition in the first 1,000 Days of Life, a program supported by United States government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for some developing countries.
According to the Permanent Secretary, “UNICEF is coming with a grant from USA to support the high impact of malnutrition ravaging 13 LGAs in the state".
“We are hoping that Niger state will act, because there is a possibility of whether we can take the entire 25 local government areas, so that we can touch every local government.”
Niger state, she further pointed out has between this June and February 2027 to access the grant, the Permanent Secretary said “We are going to work fast to be able to achieve the program because it will end in February 2027”.
The Chief of UNICEF, Kaduna Office, Dr. Gerida Birukila had earlier said that the grant will further strengthen all the strategies the UNICEF have been reeling out in Niger state to scale up nutrition in the state.
Gerida who was represented by the UNICEF Nutrition Specialist, Chinwe Ezeife said total grant amount for the entire country is over three million US dollar ($3 million) to be expended for implementation of the agenda in seven states, including Niger state.
“UNICEF will provide technical support to Niger state government in the areas of utilizing the US grant-towards implementation strategies to prevent malnutrition in the first 1, 000 Days of life".
“We will also be looking at uptake of services to scale up nutrition high impact so that the benefiting states can record improved health and nutritional status of women and children”.
Among those present at the pre-planning meeting included; UNICEF representative, that of the state's Primary Health Care Development Agency and the State Planning Commission. NNL.