So far, 35, 013 Adolescents girls in Kaduna State public schools have received grants being offered by the state government.
The first set of 7,013 have received the grants while the second of 28,000 are individually receiving the grants currently.
Acting Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, disclosed this at the start of the second cohort of beneficiaries under the Adolescent Girls Initiatives for Learning Empowerment (AGILE) project on Thursday in Kaduna.
The first cohort of 7,013 beneficiaries was flagged off on 11 August, 2022 while the second cohorts brings the total number of adolescent girls benefiting from the project to 35,013.
She said of the first group of 7,013 beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer, flagged-off on the 11th August, 2022, 4,312 are from Junior Secondary School (JSS 1) and 2,701 from Senior SS1 drawn from 24,165 households within the State.
According to her, “we will continue to monitor these beneficiaries which serves as a source of encouragement for enrollment in school.
She said Governor Nasir el-Rufai will continue to give priority to education by committing 27.3 per cent of the state budget on the average from 2019-2022.
Dr. Balarabe said the government is unrelenting in supporting girls which will enable them to become mothers, workers, entrepreneurs, political leaders, lawyers, medical doctors, and academics in various disciplines of human endeavor.
“In Kaduna State, we will continue to improve the standard and quality of our education delivery service to our people,” adding that AGILE is a World Bank-supported programme designed by the Federal Ministry of Education to address constraints the girl child faces in accessing and completing basic education.
She said Kaduna State is piloting the programme, which will be implemented in seven states of Nigeria.
The Acting governor further appreciated the Federal Government and the World Bank for their unrelenting effort in ensuring that the girl child does not remain a societal burden but positive change makers.
On her part, Halima Lawal, the State commissioner for education, said the AGILE project has three components — creating a safe and inclusive learning environment, empowering the girl child with critical life skills; and capacity strengthening.
She said these would help in reducing the burden on parents and caregivers.
