The European Union through its newly launched Education and Youth Empowerment in the Northwest part of Nigeria programme has decided to ensure the return of 500,000 out of school children back to school.
The Ambassador of the European Union Delegation in Nigeria and to ECOWAS, Ms Samuela Isopi, stated this yesterday while addressing newsmen shortly after meeting Governor Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto State on some of the intervention process of the programme.
The programme which is being sponsored by the European Union in conjunction with its implementing partners, UNICEF, is targeting at ensuring adequate reduction in the number of out of school children in the state.
“We appreciate the efforts of the federal government and the state government to really tackle the many issues that are affecting this part of the country. In spite of the efforts, we realized that education in this part of the country is still lacking compared to other parts of the country.
“That is why we have decided to join our partners including the state government and UNICEF to support education in Sokoto State.
“This programme is a programme of 40 million Euros and it involves three states in the Northwest which includes Sokoto, Kano and Jigawa states.
“We really hope that together with the government and UNICEF, we will make a difference in supporting, particularly the out of school children.
“It is going to give special focus on girls’ education, as we all know, girls are the most vulnerable in society, a specific portion will be dedicated to them in the programme.
We will also support the communities and their families in providing a good environment for the children to benefit from education.“
She further said the programme will also support adults who due to one or two challenges dropped out of school to have an opportunity to complete their education.
Governor Ahmed Aliyu, described the efforts of the European Union as not only timely but also very important.
When we started this journey, one of our nine points smart agenda was to improve the education of our wards, when we resume into office, what we meet on the ground was very bad. We had started by renovation of many school structures and even commissioned some of them during my 100 days in office.
You are very much aware that the issue of banditry affecting communities across the North West has affected our school programme. This is one of the reasons which made us, the Northwest governors, to come up with a Community Guard Corps which is aimed at combating insecurity in the region,” he said.
