By Felix Khanoba
A multi-donor funding body for interventions in basic education in poor and developing countries, Global Partnership for Education (GPE), has extended a grant of $125million to Nigeria.
Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, made this known when he received GPE’s delegation in Abuja.
He said the aim of the grant, a product of Nigeria’s Partnership for Education Project (NIPEP) is to improve access and quality of basic education in the country, with particular focus on the girl – child.
A statement made available to The AUTHORITY on Friday and signed by Mr Ben Goong, a deputy director in charge of public relations in the education ministry, said the minister disclosed that it was not the first time the country is getting such grant.
Adamu acknowledged that the Nigerian government received a grant of $100million from the funding agent in 2015 to help improve the quality of education in some states in the North-western region of the country.
According to the minister, the benefitting states, under the $100 million grant, were Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto states.
The states billed to benefit from the current grant are Oyo, Adamawa and Katsina states.
The minister, who stated that preparations are ongoing to access the grant before its deadline of June 2020, expressed delight at the opportunity to strengthen the country’s drive to improve its educational standard.
In his remarks, leader of the delegation, Sven Baeten, said that the visit was necessitated by his organisation’s interest in the educational development of the country.
In addition to the $125 million, Sven disclosed that there is another $20million grant to be made available to countries with ‘education emergency issues’ adding however that the requirements for accessing the grants such as institutional arrangements with clear cut checks and balances among others, must be fulfilled before Nigeria can access its own share.
