The Federal Ministry of Education, the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and the United Nations Children's Fund have joined forces to fund the education of 1.5 million girls in northern Nigeria.
Between 2012 and 2022, the three parties implemented the Girls' Education Programme Phase 3 in Katsina, Kano, Niger, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Bauchi States in response to low levels of female school enrollment.
The partners reported that the $109 million investment in GEP3 yielded positive results in enrolling an additional 1.5 million girls in school at the national closing ceremony on Thursday in Abuja.
Girls' primary school attendance increased from 43% to 70% in the six states, while gender parity increased from 43% to 70%, while gender parity improved from 0.73 to 0.97, a statement by UNICEF on Wednesday revealed.
Speaking on the project, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said, “In our commitment to drastically reduce the number of out-of-school children, Nigeria appreciates the scaling of evidence-based solution in tackling this menace as provided through the GEP3.
“As we continue on this path, we would leverage on the success of GEP3 to plan better, budget better, and make better decisions in putting more girl-child in school.”
UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Cristian Munduate, said, “GEP3 has not only been successful in getting more girls into formal and non-formal schools, but it has also improved learning outcomes.
“GEP3 has raised the profile of educated girls, created new positive social norms in many communities and enabled a transformational shift in mindsets about the importance of girls’ education. It is critical that we advocate scaling of the approach in all states.
“I express the deep appreciation of UNICEF to the UK Government for this long-term commitment and funding for girls’ access to primary school in northern Nigeria.
“Together there remains much work to be done, to ensure that girls transition to, and complete secondary education. This is important not only for the economic prosperity and wellbeing of the girl and her family, but to stem the high population growth expected in Nigeria.
“We see FCDO and the government of Nigeria as steadfast partners in this complex endeavour.”