World Bank approves $500m credit for Nigerian girls’ education

The bank said these factors have contributed towards limiting the number of girls that have access to secondary education.

“If nothing is done, 1.3 million girls out of the 1.85 million who began primary school in 2017/2018 in the northern states will drop out before reaching the last year of junior secondary school.”

The group, in a statement said the AGILE project would use the secondary school as a platform to empower girls through education, life skills, health education (e.g. nutrition, reproductive health), negotiation skills, self-agency, and digital literacy skills.

A minimum of six million girls and boys are expected to benefit from the project and more students will continue benefiting after the
project ends.

“There is no better investment to accelerate Nigeria’s human capital development than to significantly boost girls’ education. The AGILE project will enable the country make progress in improving access and quality of education for girls, especially in northern Nigeria,” it said,

World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri said addressing the key structural impediments in a comprehensive way will create the enabling environment to help Nigeria ensure better outcomes for girls, which will translate into their ability to contribute to productivity and better economic outcomes for themselves and the country.

The bank said the project would support access to secondary education and empowerment for adolescent girls in seven states of Kano, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina, Borno, Plateau and Ekiti.

“Specifically, the project will benefit about 6.7 million adolescents and 15.5 million direct project beneficiaries will include families and communities in participating states.”