EU Votes £35m to Address Out of School Children Phenomenon In 3 Northern States
By: Ahmed Aminu, Dutse
The European Union (EU) has approved the £35 million to address the out of schools children phenomenon in nine local government areas in three northwest states.
This was disclosed by the EU consortium lead/education adviser, PLAN Nigeria,Tobi Ransomed during the opening of the projects start-up workshop in Dutse, Jigawa State.
The three states to benefit from the intervention are Jigawa, Kano and Sokoto.
The project, under the Accelerating Basic Education and Livelihood Opportunities for Children and Youth in North-Western Nigeria, would be carried out in three local government areas in each of the three states.
Tobi explained that under the project, a total of 417,661 out of school children will be enrolled and returned to school.
“The project with duration of three years, will be implemented through Save the Children International (SCI), PLAN International and DAG in nine local government areas,” she said.
According to her, the project will ensure that the targeted number of children could be able to read and write, while over 12 million people are expected to benefit indirectly.
The official added that 60,000 children out of a total of 417,661, will be supported and empowered with livelihood support services while some of them will be awarded scholarship grant to continue with their studies.
Also speaking, the programme manager and deputy consortium lead, Vandi Hyelladi, urged all stakeholders including parents, traditional and religious leaders, government, community organisations and the media to cooperate and support the project to achieve the desired goals of reducing the number of out of school children in the three states.
In his remarks, Jigawa state governor Malam Umar Namadi, represented by his deputy, Engr. Aminu Usman Gumel commended the EU and other partners for choosing Jigawa state to implement the project.
The governor said the project will support his administration’s 12 point agenda, which included making education accessible to all.
