1.4m Nigerians Get Free Reading Glasses Under Tinubu’s Jigi Bola 2.0, Says Salako
ABUJA – A total of 1,444,581 Nigerians have received free reading glasses under the Federal Government’s Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative called Jigi Bola 2.0 in the first year of implementation.
The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Adekunle Salako, announced this while addressing reporters yesterday at the State House in Abuja.
Salako said the initiative, which was being implemented through the National Eye, Ear and Sensory Functions Programme (NESHP) of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in collaboration with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), was part of the presidential plan to deliver 5 million free pairs of eyeglasses to Nigerians who need them.
The minister said within 12 months, the programme had screened 1,541,325 Nigerians aged 40 and above for presbyopia across 16 states.
He described the rollout as one of the largest vision-care distribution efforts on the African continent.
Salako announced that the 16 states currently implementing the presidential initiative are: Bayelsa, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Lagos, Plateau, Ogun, Kwara, Benue, Sokoto, Jigawa, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The minister said the programme recorded a 94 per cent utilisation rate of donated glasses, adding that 65 per cent of beneficiaries received their first-ever pair.
He said the initiative also helped to close gender gaps in access to care, with 53 per cent of the recipients being women.
Salako said the programme strengthened primary eye care delivery by training 2,216 primary healthcare workers and activating 811 PHC facilities to provide basic eye services, including screening, counselling, first aid, dispensing of reading glasses and referral of advanced cases.
The minister stated that three vision centres had been equipped under the sustainability arm to provide glasses at subsidised rates at Alimosho General Hospital, Lagos; Ijebu-Ode General Hospital, Ogun State; and Idanre General Hospital, Ondo State.
He said a real-time digital dashboard using Kobo Collect software was deployed to track screenings and glasses dispensed, enabling stakeholders to monitor progress from anywhere.
Explaining how the programme was getting its funding, Salako said the Livelihood Impact Fund was supporting operations and covering the cost of one million pairs of glasses for this year, while Founders Pledge funded Restoring Vision to cover the cost of 2 million pairs, with 1 million already provided to NESHP and 200,000 to CHAN.
Salako stated that faith-based networks also played a major role, with the Christian Health Association of Nigeria alone dispensing 201,960 glasses.
The minister announced that the philanthropic arm of the initiative would expand in the next year to Nasarawa, Rivers, Oyo, Enugu, Taraba, Osun, Ogun, and Edo states, while four new vision centres had been earmarked for Edo, Enugu, Nasarawa and Sokoto.
He said beyond Jigi Bola 2.0, the President’s commitment had attracted additional investments, including the €15 million Christian Blind Missions VisionQuest Nigeria programme and the $5 million Bloomberg Focus on Vision Project, expected to reach 1.6 million school-aged children, provide 81,000 glasses, and train 7,500 teachers and healthcare workers over the next two years.
