The Katsina State Government has successfully returned 42,781 out-of-school girls to classrooms, leveraging the World Bank-supported Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) to bridge the gender gap in education.
The state coordinator of the project, Mustapha Shehu, disclosed this on Tuesday during a one-day community sensitisation campaign held in Katsina. The campaign, themed “Strengthening Community Support for Girls’ Education through Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT),” aimed to raise grassroots awareness about the importance of girl-child education.
Shehu said the milestone was achieved over nearly five years since AGILE’s launch in the state. He noted that the initiative has not only increased girls’ enrolment but also improved the economic status of more than 115,000 households through conditional financial support.
He further revealed that in the fourth phase of the project, scholarships and financial assistance are currently being disbursed to over 48,000 parents and 43,000 schoolgirls.
“More than 2,900 ATM cards have been issued to CCT beneficiaries,” Shehu said, “although some remain uncollected due to misidentification of the intended recipients.”
The coordinator explained that AGILE was introduced in Katsina following a 2019–2020 survey, which revealed troubling school transition rates: 53 percent of pupils did not progress from primary to junior secondary school, while 43 percent failed to move from junior to senior secondary level. The majority of those affected were girls.
Speaking at the event, the project’s Conditional Cash Transfer Coordinator, Kubrah Muhammad, said AGILE aims to boost girls’ enrollment, retention, and completion rates in secondary education while equipping them with essential life skills.
She added that the programme also focuses on improving learning environments by renovating classrooms, upgrading infrastructure, and providing safer spaces for students.
Muhammad emphasised that financial support—including scholarships and CCTs—is key to removing barriers that prevent adolescent girls from completing their education.
The AGILE programme is currently implemented in selected Nigerian states with World Bank support, targeting increased access to quality education for adolescent girls.
