Girl Child Education: UNICEF Disburses N120M, Targets 1 Million girls in 2020
Girl Child Education: UNICEF Disburses N120M, Targets 1 Million girls in 2020
About twelve thousand nine hundred and eleven (12,911) girls have so far benefitted from the 2015/2016 Girls Education Project (GEP3) Cash Transfer Program of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Niger state.
The UNICEF, Kaduna Field Office, Communication Officer Mallam Rabiu Musa made the disclosure yesterday at Kurbako village in Munya Local Government of the state, that the program had so far disbursed N120 million to Niger and Sokoto States who were the front burners.
He opined that out of over ten million (10 million) out of school children in Nigeria with the majority from the northern Nigeria about 65% are girls, hence the urgent need to turn around the situation which UNICEF with funding from the Department for International Development –DFID comes up with the Cash Transfer Programme as a strategic platform to provide equal opportunities to both boys and girls but with much emphasis on the girl child to promote and institutionalize equity aimed at encouraging parents, communities to enroll their wards in schools, ensure retention and successful completion of their western education which in this context targets one million girls are in school by 2020, he said.
Musa noted that beneficiaries between the ages of 6 -15years old goes home with the sum of five thousand naira (N5,000) each through their Caregivers (mothers) to be used for their wards school uniforms, sandals and school materials just as it was targeted at the poorest of the poor families in the society which was one of the major constraints of the out of school girls in northern Nigeria.
He emphasized that the programme was a collaborative effort of Niger State government, Department For International Development (DFID) as the sponsor with UNICEF to implement and effectively supervise disbursement and judicious utilization of the funds in the best interest of the targeted beneficiary girls.
He further said that Niger and Sokoto states has a sum of N64,555,000 and N55,705,000 respectively totaling the sum of N120 million for this trench with 11,341 girls in Sokoto.
The Niger State Coordinator for the GEP3 Cash Transfer Program, Suleiman Agboola in his remarks stated that so far 12,911 had benefited from the program in Niger State with the essence of getting children enrolled in to schools.
Agboola said that 210 schools comprising 25 primaries and 10 junior secondary schools as the minimum of 35 schools in each of the two local government of the three geopolitical zones of the state.
He noted that the six local governments benefiting from the program include: Agaie, Gbako, Mashegu, Mariga ,Rafi and Munya local governments of Niger state. He added that the cash transfer support was meant for the preparation of the girl child for schooling.
Consequently, a total of 12,911 benefitted from the cash transfer program through 6,809 caregivers (mothers) in 19 clusters to the total cost of N64,555,000 in Niger state for the first trench of 2015/2016 program expecting the second and third disbursements to take effect before the end of the year, 2015.
The beneficiaries and caregivers appreciated the originator’s of the program while assuring the judicious use of the funds made available to them. The ceremony was witnessed by the officials of the State Universal Basic Education Board – SUBEB who were present in virtually all the payment points in the state.
