Worried by the level of out-of-school children and their negative tendencies, the Emir of Kano, Alh. Aminu Ado Bayero yesterday called for urgent intervention of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to check the menace.
The first-class monarch raised the alarm when he received the president of IsDB, Dr Mohammad Suleiman Al-Jasir on a courtesy call at his palace.
The IsDB president along with the management team of the Saudi Arabia-based financial institution was in Kano to inspect the implementation of IsDB funded Agro-Pastoral development project in Kano.
Alh. Aminu who lauded the role of IsDB in the infrastructural and agricultural development in its member countries, wanted the bank to prioritize support in the area of out-of-school children and girl-child education. According to statistics from UNICEF, Kano accounts for about 1.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria.
Essentially, the monarch applauded the Agro-Pastoral project and empowerment of hundreds of farmers worth over US$90 million in Kano.
Earlier, the President of IsDB, Dr Mohammad explained the trust of the bank toward an improved standard of life and livelihood, stressing the priority attention placed on Kano.
The president later visited the IsDB-funded multi-million irrigation project at Wateri village in Bagwai local government area of the state where he inspected the newly rehabilitated 964-hectare dam under the Kano state Agro- pastoral project.
Dr Mohammad said IsDB is satisfied with the series of infrastructural and agricultural projects executed under the KSADP five-year project, hoping that Kano would benefit more from several other interventions earmarked in Nigeria.
IsDB is deploying $180.27 million for two major projects in Nigeria -$150.52 million for the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) and $ 29.75 million for the Nigeria segment of the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) Phase II Study project for Nigeria – Morocco Gas Pipeline.
According to him, ” We at the IsDB care more about the well-being of Nigerians and that is the reason why I am in Nigeria for the first time. KSADP intervention is an example of ‘takafir’ project of the bank and we are happy about the number of beneficiaries.
” We are proud about the project and I hope Kano will benefit in more agro-development projects deploying to Kano. For us, we want to ensure a better life of people and we would do all possible best to achieve that”. Dr Mohammad noted.
State coordinator, KSADP, Dr. Ibrahim Garba explained that the IsDB-funded project has executed several infrastructural projects and empowered hundreds of farmers in Kano.
He noted that the repair of 916 hectare of Wateri irrigation dam after 40 years of neglect, was part of a commitment to improving agricultural development in the state.
Besides the upgraded dam designed to produce 45 million liters of water, KSADP has signed a new contract for an additional 1,000-hectare expansion that would be completed in 18 months.
