The Nigerian Government has inaugurated the national steering committee of the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project to improve the learning outcomes of girl children across the nation.
The AGILE Project is a World Bank-assisted project of the Federal Ministry of Education geared at improving secondary education opportunities for adolescent girls aged between 10 and 20 years.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman while inaugurating the committee in Abuja, Nigeria said the project is of high importance to the nation as it aims to reduce the challenges of school children.
He urged the committee members and state chapters to ensure the sustainability of the project.
The project which is a $500 million dollar credit from the World Bank to the Federal Government and being implemented in selected seven states, which are Borno, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi and Plateau.
The committee inaugurated comprised executive secretaries from SUBEB, Commissioners of Education from 18 states and relevant Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).
The Minister commended the success recorded by the project so far describing it as a workable template to solve some major challenges in the education sector, especially taking the millions of out-of-school children off the street
He urged the participating states not to be a ‘weak link,’ in the realization of the goals of the project.
“Success recorded in the Seven (7) pilot states so far is quite amazing and eleven (11) more are coming on board, If we can register success in the 18 states, we will be halfway through in reducing the number of out-of-school children in the country as we have 36 states.
“We need to scale up what we have to reach other states. The project has assisted us in a template we can adopt to work out deliverables in reducing the number of out-of-school children,” he said.
The Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu in his remark said the inauguration was aimed at creating system reforms for expansion of access and provision of financial incentives for the girl child.
He urged the commissioners of education of the various states to make use of the available resources judiciously,
The World Bank Country Director, Shubham Chaudhuri, said the bank is passionate about the project as it would give the girl child the opportunities to contribute to their families, communities, and the nation.
Chaudhuri said efficient deliverables of the project would yield increased investment in girl-child education by the World Bank.
“Because of the success recorded so far, the governing board of the World Bank has approved an additional 700 million dollars for the additional 11 states that are joining the project.’ he said.
The Project Coordinator, Hajia Amina Haruna, said the project has reached over 2.4 million beneficiaries across the seven states.
“Over 7,967 non-functional classrooms renovated and in use in the seven states. 84,567 teaching and learning materials to schools and in use,” she said.
She, however, called for the commitment of the state government to recruit qualified teachers for the proper impact of the project.
She that the federal government and the World Bank had finalised an agreement for 11 additional financing states to join the initial seven pilot states, which include: Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara,
Dominica Nwabufo
