Reps Probe Alleged Mismanagement Of N350bn Nutrition Loan

The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate the alleged mismanagement and misapplication of $232 million, equivalent to N350 billion loan for Accelerating Nutrition Results in Nigeria (ANRiN) programme.

Consequently, the House has mandated its relevant committees to investigate the ANRiN World Bank loan to ensure that special programmes of nutrition values are not abused or mismanaged.

This followed the adoption of a motion moved by the member representing Ehime Mbano/Ihitte Uboma/Obowo federal constituency of Imo state, Hon. Chike John Okafor at plenary yesterday.
Moving the motion, Okafor acknowledged the alleged mismanagement and misapplication of $232 million in the Loan Intervention ANRiN programme in the country.

He said ANRiN is a World Bank-funded, performance based project that uses loans to address nutritional challenges in Nigeria and to provide improved nutrition for vulnerable communities by increasing access to quality, cost-effective nutrition services for pregnant and lactating women, adolescent girls, and children under five years of age.

The lawmaker said the programme is run in the 12 selected states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Oyo and Plateau from the six geopolitical zones of the country.
Okafor said the programme was entered into by the federal government in 2018 to achieve a
balance between the urgent need to protect Nigerian children from the devastating and lifelong effects of malnutrition with the expectation of improved nutritional interventions and outcomes before December 2024.