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Abia, Benue, 12 others to benefit from COVID-19 education incentive

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The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, said on Thursday 15 states would benefit from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) funding for education.

The governor disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The states are – Abia, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kano, Nassarawa, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto and Zamfara.

According to him, the funding was put together so as to cushion the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the education sector.

El-Rufai said: “I am very pleased to announce that the Federal Government has put in place some financial incentives to assist the states in implementing the education COVID-19 plan.

“Selected states are to benefit from the COVID-19 GPE global partnership for education funding; those that are above the national average from at least two of three criteria.

“The states that have qualified are Abia, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Benue, Ebonyi, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kano, Nassarawa, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, and Zamfara.

READ ALSO: COVID-19 has exposed Nigeria’s challenges in health, education sector —NLC

“These are the states that made two of the three criteria for GPE funding; this is the grant from the World Bank and other donors.’’

The governor disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Education presented to NEC a broad overview of the education sector and how the education of Nigerian students in the COVID-19 era could continue.

He said the ministry approved the closure of schools and tertiary institutions on March 19 before a formal lockdown was announced.

“Some actions taken so far to mitigate the learning loss among children are the education sector COVID-19 strategy and National Education Sector COVID-19 Response Plan in collaboration with parastatals, development partners, public health experts, and the Nigerian education group.

“The Federal Government also constituted a ministerial task force on COVID-19.

“The primary objectives of the COVID-19 education response plan are to ensure that all children continue learning through access to the best remote learning programmes and appropriate for each context to meet the needs of each child, including the most vulnerable,” the governor added.

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