By Asma’u Ahmad
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Monday disbursed N53 million to 209 School Based Management Committees (SBMCs) for the improvement of girl-child education in Zamfara state.
Making the presentation at the Government House in Gusau, the Chief of UNICEF Sokoto Field office, Mr Mohammed Mohiuddin, said the fund was part of an intervention on Girl Education Project Phase 3 (GEP 3) by the UKAID/DFID and managed by the UNICEF.
The project, he said, was designed to be implemented over eight years, from 2012 to 2020, during which one million additional girls were expected to be enrolled and retained in schools in the five states under the scheme.
The field officer said, an estimated 1.9 million boys would also benefit from the investment through improvements in teacher quality and school governance.
He said that in Zamfara state alone, an estimated 155,580 girls were expected to be added to the number of girls in school by the time the project rounds off in 2020.
Mr Mohiuddin said each of the schools management committees would receive N250, 000 directly into its account for the improvement of the schools to enhance enrolment, retention and improved learning.
He said the 209 SBMCs were spread across the six local government areas of Anka, Talata-Mafara, Bungudu, Tsafe, Kaura-Namoda and Shinkafi.
He then urged the state government to hasten the release of N150 million which is its contribution to UNICEF assisted Basic Education programme as approved in the 2017 budget.
While flagging off the disbursement, the state governor, Alhaji Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, thanked UNICEF and all the other development partners for assisting in uplifting lives of people of the state.
Newsmen report that other states in the northern part of the country to benefit from the project include Sokoto, Niger, Bauchi and Katsina.
