Not less than three million Nigerian girls have so far benefitted from the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), a World Bank Assisted Project in promoting education and its opportunities for adolescent girls aged between 10 and 20.
This was disclosed by the national project coordinator of AGILE, Amina Uba Haruna, at the national flag-off of the programme titled “Madubi,” a Hausa word which means ‘mirror.’ She said the initiative was aimed at advocating the importance of girl-child education in Nigeria.
She said the programme which is currently being run in seven states namely Borno, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi and Plateau States, was aimed at encouraging young girls to properly choose their destinies in which education serves as proper foundation.
She also called for the enrollment of more female teachers in schools, saying this would attract more girls, while noting that other communities would soon join to create opportunities for girls in the aforementioned locations.
“The Madubi is a national campaign that we want to advocate more on the outside society to know the importance of girl child education in Nigeria, that is why we adopt this word from Hausa because it is a mirror. That girl in a mirror is you, me and us.
“More than three million have been adopted so far under the AGILE project. We have renovated about 5000 class rooms, we are now going on construction, then we have financial incentives where it will allow these girls to retain them in schools. We have financial incentives for beneficiaries and caregivers also.
“Most of the states are going to join the project in June, about eleven states. The present states implementing this are Borno, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi and Katsina, then Plateau state.
“More female teachers are needed in these schools so as to attract more girls in terms of enrolment. More states are expected to join and they include states like Adamawa, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara” she added.
Kuni Tyessi
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