The Global Partnership for Education (GPE), a multi-donor funding agent for interventions in basic education in poor and developing countries, has extended a grant of $125 million to Nigeria to support the development of basic education initiatives in the country.
Mallam Adamu Adamu, the Minister of Education, disclosed this when he received a delegation from the GPE, led by Sven Baeten on a working visit to his office in Abuja.
Adamu said the grant, a product of Nigeria’s Partnership for Education Project (NIPEP) will be used to improve access and quality of basic education in the country, with particular focus on the girl – child in Oyo, Adamawa and Katsina states.
Been Goong, Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, in a statement, said Adamu while expressing delight at the opportunity to strengthen the country’s drive to improve its educational standard told the delegation led by Sven Baeten, that preparations are ongoing to access the grant before its deadline of June 2020,.
The minister revealed that the grant was not the first time the country is getting such grant from GPE. He disclosed that a grant of $100 million from the funding agent in 2015 to help improve the quality of education in some states in the North-western region of the country, with Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna and Sokoto states benefitting from the grant.
Baeten, in his remarks, said that the visit was necessitated by GPE’s interest in the educational development of Nigeria.
He revealed that there is another $20million grant to be made available to countries with ‘education emergency issues’ but added 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.
Baeten who expressed the willingness of the Fund to help Nigeria access the grant, urged the Federal Government to step up efforts to access the grants as there are other countries with similar challenges.
