The United States Government in partnership with Helen Keller International, has invested $9.5m in key multi-sectoral projects in Bauchi, Sokoto and Kebbi states respectively.

This initiative, also known as ‘Advancing Nutrition’ is targeted at agriculture, education, health, water and sanitation in the three Northeast states.

Speaking at the close of the Helen Keller International Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyles Project, funded by the Mondelez International Foundation in collaboration with the Lagos State government, the Country Director, Helen Keller, Philomena Orji, said the choice of the states for the project was due to low nutrition indicators in that region.

“We have a new project funded by the USAID government which started this year. It is in three states Bauchi, Kebbi and Sokoto, Northeast geopolitical zone of the country and we are going to take some elements of what we did in the Lagos programme and replicate them in other projects. Well this particular project is quite big, the U.S. government is investing $9.5m in it for the two years.

“We started in October 2021. It is called the USAID Advancing Nutrition and it is what we call a multisectorial nutrition project that is going to cut across different sectors; so there will be agriculture, education, health, water and sanitation segments.”

Giving a scorecard for the just concluded Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyles Project that also received over $1 million from the U.S. government; Orji expressed satisfaction about the overall impact both direct and indirect in the selected schools and communities in Lagos State.

On his part, the Education Secretary, Lagos Government Education Authority, Ikeja, Amosu Akeem Abolore, said the Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyles Project, superseded the expectations as promotion of smart farming and grassroots sports in schools and communities have been given priority in the state’s policy for education.

Abolore, who is also the Chairman, National Association of Education Secretaries, Lagos State Chapter, said: “In terms of agriculture, Helen Keller and its partners have improved smart farming in schools and communities to improve nutrition and bridge scarcity of food. Farming is now part of the education curriculum in Ikeja Local Government.”

Speaking on the impact on sports, Abolore said the project recorded 70 per cent success as many talents in the different indoor and outdoor games have been discovered in schools.