5 northern states to benefit from $500m World Bank education fund

Five northern states will benefit from a World Bank basic education fund of $500 million over the next five years.

Helen Okoro, information officer, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) disclosed this on Thursday.

In a statement released in Abuja, Okoro said the development was made known by Olatunde Adekola, Head, World Bank International Reconstruction and Development team.

According to Okoro, the fund is to help improve access to quality education at the basic level in Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Sokoto and Katsina states.

“Five hundred million dollars has been set aside as Global Partnership for Education/ Nigerian Partnership for Education Project to fund education in the five beneficiary states of Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto”, she said.

Nigeria is believed to have over 10 million out-of-school children – the world’s highest number – and sixty per cent of those children are in northern Nigeria.