By Muslim Lawan
Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed of Bauchi State has pledged the readiness of his administration to invest more in girlchild education.
The governor made the pledge at the opening ceremony of AGILE Conference of Traditional and Religious Leaders on Girl Child Education in the North East held at Government House, Bauchi.
Governor Bala Mohammed said investment in girlchild education should be a priority to close gender gap and regretted that, out of school syndrome and girlchild education gap have been a matter of concern in the north east sub region.
He therefore applauded the Federal Government through the World Bank for coming up with the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project to compliment the efforts of states in addressing the challenges in the education sector.
The Governor who told the participants on the milestones achieved by his administration in the education sector including the renovation of over 5000 classrooms, solicited for the continued support of religious and traditional rulers on improving school enrollment.
On his part, the Minister of Education, represented by Dr Bukar Bukar said the ongoing transformation of Nigeria’s educational sector by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is to make a difference in tackling out of school children syndrome in the country.
Also speaking, the Sultan of Sokoto, Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar who expressed concern on access to education in the north, stressed the need for priority to be given to girlchild education to enable them contribute positively towards societal development.
The National Coordinator of Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project, Amina Buba Haruna explained that the project is to lay a foundation for a long-term engagement on adolescent girls’ education and empowerment.
