By Stephen Ojo
The Niger State Government has released N150m counterpart fund for the World Bank assisted Adolescent Girl Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project in the state.
The state Commissioner of Basic ans Secondary Education, Dr. Hadiza Asabe Muhammad stated this while speaking with Blueprint in Minna at the weekend.
She explained that the development partner has earmarked the total loan funds of $80m for the project in the state, adding that, ” Farmer Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has released the state counterpart fund of N150m for the project “.
According to her, “the loan from AGILE is supporting all the Senior and Junior Secondary Schools which are 534 in Niger state. We are renovating the 534 Senior and junior secondary schools using AGILE fund in Niger state”.
The commissioner explained that priority attention has been given to the perimeter fencing of 27 Senior secondary schools and another 27 junior secondary schools in state to ensure adequate security of students.
She said that the decision to construct the fences was taken in view of the fact that most of the public schools have become porous due to lack of perimeter fences.
She explained that 43 boarding schools are still operating in the state despite the security challenges adding that “currently we have 9226 boarding school students we are feeding “.(www.krestnews.com)