By Ndahi Marama

A World Bank Technical Support Team has visited Borno State on performance evaluation, monitoring of some selected projects and help enhance performance of the Multi Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project, MCRP Team in Borno State.

The team is led by the Task Team Leader on MCRP, Serena Cavicchi.
Other members of the Technical Support Mission include consultant to the World Bank on MCRP Project Mr. Masroor Ahmed, Chidozie AG, Agricultural Economist, Anas Abba Kyari, Senior Procurement Specialist, Professor Ahmed Chinade Environmental Safeguard and Nkem Uzochukun C1 and C3 specialist.

After a special session with the Borno State MCRP officials at the Technology Incubation Hub in Maiduguri, the team led by the Borno State Coordinator of MCRP, Baba Abdulkarim, visited one of the 25 health facilities built by the project at Abujan talakawa area where the officer-in-charge of the clinic Yachilla Waziri, said after building the Primary health Centre, the project also supported the clinic with solar power, Borehole and essential drugs.

At the Maiduguri Chest Clinic, the team was received and conducted round by the Medical Officer in charge of the Clinic Dr. Mustafa Bintube who said “the hospital serves as referral centre being the only specialized Hospital on chest diseases in the entire north east.”

He said they receive patients not only in north eastern Nigeria but from Chad, Niger, and Cameroon Republics.

Bintube noted that the facility also serve as Data Collection Centre to the World Health Organization and other UN organizations on Tuberculosis.

Prior to its reconstruction by the Borno State Government through the MCRP he said, “the clinic hardly operates due to neglect and dearth of medical equipment. However, with the special intervention that brought it back to life, the hospital recorded over two hundred cases of TB mostly from northern Borno occasioned by the insurgency induced displacement.”

The new Borno State E-Library was also visited by the team being one of the 54 public buildings constructed by the MCRP across Borno State among other educational institutions.

The team also visited the 66km Maiduguri -Bama Road under construction and equally had technical session with government officials from the Ministry of Works, Education, Local Government and Emirate Affairs, Water Resources, Health and Human Services, Agriculture as well as members of the peace group, community leaders and relevant CSOs who provide third party monitoring oversights.

READ ALSO:

They later met with Governor Babagana Zulum at the Government House in Maiduguri to brief him on their mission as chairman of the state steering committee.

The team leader commended the governor for his proactiveness, stressing that this might not be unconnected with the governor being the pioneer State Coordinator of the Project in the state prior to his election.

Speaking at the end of the visit, the Borno State MCRP Coordinator, Baba Abdulkarim, expressed delight over the visit saying “apart from technical knowledge gained, the visit has also strengthened the state MCRP Team on how to execute the project activities in line with the Bank Standard and global best practices in the interest of the people in whose interest the Government and the Bank are carrying out the various activities cutting across, water, sanitation and hygiene, Agriculture, Public Buildings, Education, Transport and non food items among other interventions.”