Kaduna State Government has commenced the disbursement of N15,000 Conditional Cash Transfer to over each of 28,000 adolescent girls from public schools across the state.
Acting Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, made this known when she flagged off the second cohort of beneficiaries under the Adolescent Girls Initiatives for Learning Empowerment (AGILE) project on Thursday in Kaduna.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the first cohort of 7,013 beneficiaries was flagged off on 11 August, 2022.
The second cohorts brings the total number of adolescent girls benefiting from the project to 33,575.
She said the state governor will continue to give priority to education by committing 27.3 per cent of the state budget on the average from 2019-2022.
She reiterated government’s unrelenting support to girls which will enable become mothers, workers, entrepreneurs, political leaders, lawyers, medical doctors, and academics in various disciplines of human endeavor.
She said “In Kaduna State, we will continue to improve the standard and quality of our education delivery service to our people.”
She said 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.
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 encouragement for enrollment in school.
Also speaking at the event, Hajiya Hafsat Baba, the state commissioner human services and social development, assured that the support will get to the appropriate persons.
In his goodwill message, Mr Suleiman Liman of the state universal basic education board (SUBEB), said the board has since gone beyond gender while assuring of continuous support to ensure that girls get free access to education.
NAN
