Global Partnership for Education(GPE), a multi-donor funding agent for interventions in basic education in developing countries has extended a grant of125 million dollars to Nigeria to support the development of Basic Education.
Malam Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, disclosed this when he received a delegation from GPE on a working visit, saying that the aim of the grant was to improve access and quality of Basic Education in the country.
Mr Ben Goong, Deputy Director Press and Public Relations in the Ministry made this known in a statement on Friday in Abuja.
He said the grant which was a product of Nigeria’s Partnership for Education Project (NIPEP), was with particular focus on the Girl Child Education.
While disclosing that this was not the first time the country would be getting such a grant, Adamu acknowledged that the government received a grant of 100 million dollars from GPE in 2015 to help improve the quality of education in some states of the North West.
According to the Minister, the benefitting states, under the100 million dollar grant, were Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto states.
He said that the states billed to benefit from the current grant were Oyo, Adamawa and Katsina.
Adamu, who stated that preparations were ongoing to access the grant before its deadline of June 2020, expressed delight at the opportunity to strengthen the country’s drive to improve its educational standard.
Mr Sven Baeten, leader of the delegation said that the visit was necessitated by his organization’s interest in the educational development of the country.
In addition to the125 million dollars, Sven disclosed that there was another 20million dollars grant to be made available to countries with ‘education emergency issues’ adding, however, that the requirements for accessing the grant such as institutional arrangements with clear cut checks and balances among others, must be fulfilled before Nigeria can access its own share.
The leader, who expressed the willingness of his organization to help Nigeria access the grant, also urged the government to step up efforts to access the grants as there were other countries with similar challenges. (NAN)
