20, 000 girls to benefit from AGILE financial support in Nasarawa
The beneficiaries, who must be between the ages of 10-20 years, would get N15,000 on the transition from primary school into JSS 1 and N25,000 during payment of fees and N10,000 in second and third terms,” she said.
No fewer than 20,000 girls are to benefit from the Conditioner-Cash-Transfer from the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project.
The AGILE project is an initiative of the Federal Government with support from the World Bank and is currently being implemented in 18 states including Nasarawa aimed to improve school enrolment.
Hajjya Aishatu Aliyu-Isoga, the State Coordinator of AGILE disclosed this at a training organised for journalists on Wednesday in Lafia.
“All new intakes into Junior Secondary School (JSS) 1 and Senior Secondary School (SSS) 1 are potential beneficiaries of the cash transfer throughout the implementation period of this programme in addition to the 20,000 students already profiled.
“The beneficiaries, who must be between the ages of 10-20 years, would get N15,000 on the transition from primary school into JSS 1 and N25,000 during payment of fees and N10,000 in second and third terms,” she said.
Aliyu-Isoga noted that the project is being implemented in seven LGAs of the state with high cases of out-of-school girls.
She listed the LGAs to include Awe, Doma, Lafia, Wamba, Kokona, Keana, and Nasarawa and promised to extend it to the remaining five LGAs in the state for inclusivity.
“The project development objective is to improve secondary education opportunities among adolescent girls in 18 states, including Nasarawa State.”
On the training for journalists, the state coordinator explained that it was aimed at equipping journalists with the techniques to prioritise reportage to encourage the enrollment of more female children in school.
She appreciated the partnership by the media since the project started in 2024, and urged for sustained support.
She also appreciated Gov. Abdullahi Sule for creating an enabling environment through payment of counterpart fund, provision of office, and vehicles among others.
Aliyu-Isoga attributed the successes recorded so far to the collaboration by traditional and religious leaders and urged them to continue to encourage the people in their areas to allow the girl-child to go to school.
Grace Amirikpa, a resource person, in her paper titled, “Exploring the Impact of Media Representation on the Empowerment of Women and Girls”, shed light on the dangers of negative publicity about women in the media.
She encouraged the media and the entertainment industries to project good things about women by assigning them positive roles, and promoting stories of successful women.
“This would go a long way to give the Girl-Child the necessary encouragement and platforms to know that they can also succeed and achieve whatever they want to become in life,” Amirikpa said