The Nasarawa State Government on Monday, started the World Bank’s Adolescent Girls Initiative For Learning And Empowerment (AGILE) project. The project is aimed at upgrading 490 public secondary schools across the 13 local government areas of the state.
Governor Abdullahi Sule, during the flag off of the project in Lafia, the state capital, stated that the project was approved following the payment of a N150million counterpart fund by the state government.
He said with the AGILE project, the state government now has the opportunity to address the challenges of access, retention and quality of girls’ education at the secondary schools in the state.
Sule commended the Federal Ministry of Education for considering the state for the School Improvement Grant. He reaffirmed his administration’s commitment towards supporting the World Bank’s AGILE project to succeed in the state.
The governor appealed to the School-Based Management Committees and other key stakeholders to manage the available resources judiciously in line with the work approved plan. He told them to be transparent and accountable in the discharge of their responsibilities.
“The programme is aimed at addressing the lack of completion of education by adolescent girls, particularly in secondary schools, through providing support to schools, families and communities, and also to empower girls with relevant skills for self-development.
“It is important to state that at the take-off of the programme in Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Education set out for participants the requirements for the initiative.
“I am happy to inform you that, having met all the requirements, Nasarawa State was selected for participation in the programme.
“The state government has since released the mandated N150million. We have also initiated the recruitment of qualified teachers to be posted to the new schools that will be constructed under the project in the coming months,” Sule said.
He said the flag off of the school improvement grant represents the continuation of the state government’s impacts. He mentioned that funds will be disbursed directly to eligible public secondary schools to upgrade infrastructure, provide essential learning materials, improve Water, Sanitation and Hygiene facilities, and create a self-inclusive learning environment for girls across the state.
The Nasarawa State Project Coordinator of AGILE, Aishatu Isoga, noted that the project development objective was to expand secondary education opportunities for adolescent girls in targeted areas across 21 states of the country.
She equally stated that the project’s main focus is on adolescent girls, especially those from poor backgrounds who are at risk of dropping out of school.
Isoga further stated that the project interventions would include construction and rehabilitation of schools to improve access to quality secondary education, social behavioural change and mobilising support for girls’ education and empowerment through advocacies, sensitisations and campaigns to mitigate demand-side constraints, among others.
“It is worth noting that one of the key deliverables of AGILE is the School Improvement Grant, which we are flagging off today.
“A total of 515 public secondary schools across the state will benefit in three categories: 331 small grants, 159 medium grants, and 25 large grants, which will be disbursed in two phases.
“The first phase targets small and medium grants (490 schools). This grant is a school-level funding mechanism that empowers school communities to take direct charge of their development priorities. Schools are expected to implement physical upgrades based on the approved School Implementation Plan developed by School-Based Management Committees,” she said.
The state Commissioner for Education, John Mamman, during the occasion, thanked all the stakeholders involved in the project and pledged the ministry’s commitment to ensure the smooth take-off of the project across the 13 LGAs of the state.
