Initiative To Train Service Providers, Targets 1,203 Bauchi Schools For Renovation

The Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) Project in Bauchi State is set to train and equip 156 technical service providers on environmental and social safeguards to support the implementation of its activities across the state.

The state project coordinator, Hajiya Ladi Mohammed Hamma, disclosed this yesterday during a briefing of journalists on the project’s progress.

She said the technical service providers, comprising civil engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, and environmental experts, will serve as professional guides for the project’s building and renovation works.

She explained that the project had been awaiting World Bank approval to conduct the training. She announced that they have received clearance, and the training is expected to commence next Thursday.

.The AGILE project coordinator also provided updates on the construction of new schools across the 20 local government areas of the s tate.

She explained that all necessary processes have been completed, and the project is currently awaiting approval of prototype designs and site specifications from the World Bank. Once approved, expected before the end of the month, the project will proceed with advertisement, tendering, and bidding processes.

She also said AGILE plans to renovate 1,203 secondary schools across the state, noting that the renovation has been delayed pending the training of technical service providers, a prerequisite for the commencement of fieldwork.

Hamma revealed that 12,133 beneficiaries across 100 schools are already benefiting from the project’s conditional cash transfer scheme. Each beneficiary has received N40,000, credited directly to their bank accounts.

She said only a few beneficiaries are yet to receive their ATM cards, adding that distribution is ongoing through FCMB’s Jos branch. She assured that all beneficiaries would receive their ATM cards before the end of the week.

According to her, each girl will receive N60,000 under the scheme. The breakdown includes N15,000 for registration and N25,000 as transition support in the first term, totalling N40,000. Subsequently, beneficiaries who maintain at least 70 per cent school attendance will receive N10,000 per term until completion of their junior or senior secondary education.

She further disclosed that AGILE is expanding the programme from 100 to 200 schools and aims to enrol 40,000 beneficiaries in the second cohort.

The Project Coordinator appealed to parents to ensure their wards obtain a National Identification Number (NIN), which is required for opening bank accounts. She also stressed the need for birth certificates, as well as parents’ NIN and BVN, to facilitate account processing.

Hamma clarified that application forms are given directly to beneficiaries and urged parents to ensure that funds received under the conditional cash transfer scheme are used strictly for educational purposes in line with the objectives of the AGILE project.

She reaffirmed the project’s commitment to improving access to quality education for adolescent girls across Bauchi State.