The World Bank has earmarked 500 million dollars as grant to fund basic education for five years in 5 different states of Nigeria.
The Information Officer, Universal Basic Education Commission UBEC, Mrs Helen Okoro, revealed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, the Federal Capital Terrirtory.
Mrs Okoro in the statement quoted the Head, World Bank International Reconstruction and Development team, Dr Olatunde Adekola, the source of the information.
She stated that the fund was for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), established to 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 the Global Partnership for Education (GPE)/ Nigerian Partnership for Education Project (NIPEP) to fund education in the five beneficiary states of Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto,’’ she said.
Okoro said Adekola commended the Federal Government for the NIPEP project and added that it was the first time government would be focusing on strategies aimed at moving the basic education sub-sector forward.
She said the 2.5 billion dollars credit that the Federal Government requested from the World Bank to finance the 2016 budget could only be released after fulfilling certain conditions.