Girl-child Education is Our Priority – KDSG
By Alex Uangbaoje, Kaduna
The Kaduna State Government on Wednesday said education of the girl-child is a priority to the state as adequate finances and other logistic support for the promotion of girl-child education are being provided.
Budget and Planning Commissioner who spoke through Mrs. Phoebe Yayi, Director, Development Aid Coordination and Planning, was optimistic that educating the girl-child would reduce maternal deaths.
Yayi made this known, at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and Kaduna State Government mid-year review meeting and Financial Management Orientation.
She pledged the state continued commitment to providing the needed support to ensure that parents enroll and retains their wards in schools, also expressed the state’s readiness to partner with the agency to enhance skill development among youths.
According to her, the development of skills will fast tract economic growth and boost self-reliance.
She added that the state government will continue to invest in its youths, especially the girls, stressing that poverty and teenage pregnancies will be eradicated if the youths are educated.
Yayi commended UNFPA’s partnership with the states in the Northern region that had facilitated awareness among parents on the need to enroll and retain adolescent girls in schools beyond the primary level.
She disclosed that the state government had paid N120 million as counterpart fund for family planning and child spacing programmes of UNFPA, and lauded UNPFA for providing N480 million to sensitize parents and women on the use of contraceptives for child spacing.
Yayi recalled that the state government, in 2016, appropriated N100 million for the same programme with the agency providing N400 million.
Also speaking, Mrs. Mariana Darboe, UNFPA programme manager, said the agency’s education and skill acquisition programmes were key to eradicating poverty and underage marriage among girls.
“We are investing in adolescent girls to enable them build healthier homes, reduce maternal deaths and maximise opportunities toward enhanced economic growth and development,” she added.
Darboe, noted that, the meeting was convened to review the progress so far made in the area of implementation, between January to June, 2017.
According to her, the review would assist the agency to identify key challenges, best practices as well as the success stories that could be replicated to improve service delivery in the second half of the year.
She further said that, the review will also improve knowledge of participants on UNFPA programme and financial management.
