By LUCY OSUIZIGBO-OKECHUKWU

The Anambra State Government has rejected the 2025 PCL State Performance Index (PSPI), calling it “deeply flawed and misleading” after the state dropped from 8th in 2024 to 34th.

Mrs Chiamaka Nnake, Anambra’s Commissioner for Budget and Planning, released a statement Friday in Awka, accusing Philips Consulting Limited (PCL) of applying an unscientific and biased methodology in the report.

Nnake criticised the report’s reliance on a sample size of only 78 respondents, arguing that such a figure was invalid for a state with a population exceeding six million residents.

“By accepted statistical standards, the sample size is invalid.

“Worse still, 76 per cent of respondents were male, making the data unrepresentative and biased,” the Commissioner noted in her statement.

She further criticised the report’s focus on perception and expenditure data, saying it failed to evaluate actual outcomes or measurable development results across sectors in the state.

The commissioner outlined key state achievements she said were ignored, including free education from Nursery to SS3, recruitment of more than 8,100 teachers, and a 27 per cent rise in enrollment.

Nnake said Anambra ranked first nationally in a 2024 UNICEF-led healthcare challenge, and more than 120,000 women had accessed free maternal care across various state-run health facilities.

She also highlighted infrastructure milestones: saying more than 546 kilometres of roads completed within three years, plus several flyovers and strategic bridges delivered under the current administration.

“It’s unfortunate that in spite of these achievements, PCL ranked Anambra 30th in Health and failed to reflect significant development indicators across key sectors,” she added.

The commissioner urged PCL to adopt rigorous methodologies, including proper fieldwork, representative sampling, and the use of objective, outcome-based indicators that reflected real progress across states.

“You cannot sit in Lagos or Abuja and rank states based on the opinions of a few people. This reduces serious governance efforts to mere propaganda,” she said. (NAN, but headline rejigged)