The World Bank has approved a new loan of $700 million aimed at strengthening educational opportunities and empowerment for adolescent girls in Nigeria.
This additional funding is allocated to support the ongoing project, the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment, which seeks to improve access to quality education and empower young girls across the country.
The statement read, “The World Bank approved additional financing of $700m for Nigeria to scale up the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment programme whose goal is to improve secondary education opportunities among girls in targeted states.
“The additional financing will scale up project activities from the current seven states to eleven additional states and increase the targeted beneficiaries to include out-of-school girls, those who are married, and those who have disabilities.”
It was discovered that Nigeria had between 12 million and 15 million out-of-school children of school-age, with the majority of them living in Northern Nigeria.
It was also highlighted that rising insecurity near schools harmed an estimated one million youngsters in 2020-2021.
The statement added, “In the seven AGILE programme implementing states – Borno, Ekiti, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, and Plateau – the number of girls in secondary schools has increased from about 900,000 to over 1.6 million.
“Under the programme, over 5,000 classrooms have been renovated and over 250,000 eligible girls have received scholarships.
“The AGILE programme has supported construction and rehabilitation of WASH facilities in secondary schools and the installation of computers and solar panels which make attending school more convenient and conducive for both girls and boys. Life skills, systems strengthening, and advocacy are other key aspects of the program which address social norms impeding girls’ education.”
The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, stated that, “Closing the gender gaps in economic empowerment by ensuring girls have access to education and skills is key for Nigeria’s development and economic prosperity.
“Nigeria’s working population will soon be one of the youngest and largest around the world, which means that investing in adolescent girls is imperative when addressing overall economic prospects and growth.”
According to the statement, the impact of this financing will extend beyond the adolescent girls it directly benefits. It will also positively affect more than 15 million students and various stakeholders, including teachers, administrators, families, communities, and school staff in both existing and newly established educational institutions.
Furthermore, this additional funding will expand the project’s coverage to encompass 18 states, contributing significantly to Nigeria’s efforts to improve educational and health outcomes for girls.
