Group boosts education in Northeast with N45.22b

A non-governmental organisation, Education Cannot Wait (ECW) has earmarked $119 million (about N45.22 billion) to deliver education to children in the conflict-prone North East.

The Director, Yasmine Sheriff, who announced the donation, said the fund was an investment grant that would meet the needs of over 2.9 million children and youths in the sub-region.  

“This is a global fund aimed at transforming the delivery of education in emergencies and protracted crisis. It will accelerate educational support in response to the protracted armed conflict and ongoing humanitarian needs in North East’.

On Boko Haram incessant attacks, kidnappings and banditry, he said: the crisis has left more than a million children out-of-school.

While shedding light on the grant, Sheriff disclosed that the initial programme, which would cost ($20.m) (about N8billion) will run for three years.

He added that the goal was to leverage an additional $98.7 million (about N38billion) in co-financing from national and global partners.

According to him, other global partners include the private sector and philanthropic foundations. He said ECW has been supporting education in emergencies since 2018, through the First Emergency Response (FER) intervention.

The Borno State Universal Basic Education Board Chairman, Dr. Shettima Kullima said during the COVID-19 pandemic, ECW was the first to render support to the region.

While lamenting incessant attacks on schools, he said: “Children and teachers are being targeted in violent attacks. The Killings, rape and other forms of sexual violence, abduction and child molestation are putting girls and boys at extreme risk.”

Speaking on the increasing cases of out-of-school children, Sheriff said: “There are still approximately a million children, including 583,000 girls, and 18,000 education personnel that are in rapid need of support.

The support, according to him, was to either resume or sustain education in the northeast. He therefore called on public and private sector groups to urgently help close the $98.7 million (about N37.41 billion) funding gap for the crucial programme.

He said the number of children and youth with chronic needs in education remain high across the insurgency affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.