* spends N2bn for school furniture in one year
The Commissioner of Basic and Secondary Education in Kebbi state, Mohammad Magawata, has said the state spends a total sum of N280 million monthly on school feeding programmes to enhance enrolment, retention and completion in public schools across the state.
Magawata, who stated this on Monday in Kebbi at a media training on Cash Transfer Programme (CTP) organised by the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF), said this was done in a bid to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the country.
“Every month, Kebbi state spends over N280 billion on feeding. This, we give for free to improve interest in going to school and also retention of children in school,” he said.
He also said the state has also spent “over N2 billion for only providing furniture in our schools this year.”
Magawata pointed out that the influx of people from neighbouring countries like Niger, Chad and Benin Republic had contributed to the increase in the number of out-of-school children in the state.
“We are doing very much to sustain the programme; even after UNICEF completes the programmes in the northern part of the country, we can still continue our own programmes to ensure those who are in school remains,” he said.
“We have our own local programmes of assisting children. We do this by helping in the payment of school fees and school feeding,” he added.
The commissioner also noted that the state had been able to absorb over 500,000 beneficiaries adding that an additional 400,000 beneficiaries had been added recently during its mopping exercise.
He, however, expressed optimism that the CTP will change the mindsets of parent who may want to refuse their children from attending conventional schools, saying the CTP has brought tremendous improvement to the educational sector of the state.
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