Olu Samuel ,Lokoja
The Kogi state governor, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo has praised the president Nola Ahmed Tinubu for his commitment to the health welfare of Nigerians through the Renewed Hope Agenda focusing generally on delivering the good dividends of democracy to the people.
Odido was speaking on Thursday in Okene at the official flag off of the implementation of the Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative Nigeria (ESCIN), tagged: “Jigi Bola 2.0”.
ESCIN is an initiative of President Bola Tinubu as a road map to enable poor Nigerian accessed treatment of basic eye issues and delivery of spectacles.
The initiative is being actualised through the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (FMOH) in collaboration with Kogi State Government, Sightsavers as well as other donor partners.
The targeted beneficiaries include the elderly and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) as well as other vulnerable citizens across the country.
“Mr President has again demonstrated his total commitment to the health and welfare of Nigerians through
“We cannot thank Mr President enough for extending yet another health gesture to people with presbyopic eye changes and especially considering those aged 40yrs and above across Nigeria.
“Many of us in the room heard or listened to Mr President tell the eye health story of his mum a few weeks ago.
“That story was the motivation for Jigibola 1.0 then, it is the call to action to Learning Earning Thriving Nigeria See, JigiBola 2.0 (let Nigeria See), in 2023 and the FMOH & SW with its partners are heeding the call.
“Mr President used his personal experience to impact the lives of millions in Lagos by catalysing the strengthening of eye care services.
“Mr President is ready to touch the lives of millions yet again on a national scale,” Ododo said.
Ododo, who was represented by the state’s Commissioner for Health, Dr Adeiza Abdulazeez, said efforts to improve eye health were focusing on increasing access to quality and comprehensive eye care services.
“In Kogi State, the overall prevalence of blindness was 3.5%, which was similar to the 3.7% observed in the 2005-2007 Nigeria National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey.
“Today, best estimates suggest 24 million Nigerians are living with treatable sight loss. The leading two causes are untreated cataract and uncorrected refractive errors.
“This initiative will build the foundations to deliver change across the life course,” Ododo said.
Earlier, the National Coordinator, National Eye Health Programme (NEHP), FMOH, Dr Oteri Okolo said ESCIN Jigi Bola 2.0, was put together to commemorate the maiden “World Assistive Technology Day”.
She said noted that it was an initiative of President Bola Tinubu’ because he recognized the important role of vision in the well-being of every Nigerian as well as the social and economic development of the nation.
She stressed that the President had made eye health a priority as one of the deliverables of the Renewed Hope agenda, saying the initiative was targeted towards poor people particularly at the grassroots.
According to her, one of the objectives of the JIGI Bola 2.0 initiative is to ensure that citizens with preventable eye defects as well as the elderly can have the vision to engage in their day to day activities without hindrance.
“Mr President want to improve the productive capacity of Nigerians at all levels especially at grassroots, and to add to the gross domestic growth of Nigeria.
“We are here in Kogi State to start the implementation from community level.
“The glasses will be given to every beneficiary free of charge which had already been taken care of by Mr President through the Federal Ministry of Health in collaboration with Kogi Government and in partnership with local and foreign partners such as Sightsavers and others.