By Leo Zwànke, Lafia
A total of 235,274 out-of-school adolescent girls in Nasarawa State are benefiting from scholarships through the federal government’s Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) Project. This initiative is part of a pilot scheme aimed at empowering young girls through education and skill development.
During a sensitization workshop held in Lafia, the state capital, Nasarawa State Project Coordinator for AGILE, Hajiya Aishatu Aliyu Isoga, shared these details with attendees. The workshop brought together traditional and religious leaders, secondary school principals, caregivers, media professionals, and legal practitioners to foster collaboration for the successful implementation of this World Bank-supported project.
Hajiya Aishatu emphasized the initiative’s significance in keeping adolescent girls in school, which offers them better prospects for the future. She also addressed the ongoing challenge of low enrollment rates for girls in the state, urging all stakeholders to actively contribute to changing this trend.
One of the workshop facilitators, Hajiya Ramatu, hailed the AGILE Project as a “game changer” for the girl child in Nasarawa. She stressed the importance of continuous monitoring to sustain its impact. Additionally, participant Mrs. Justina Allu called for increased funding to further expand the project’s reach, ensuring that more out-of-school girls can access education and secure brighter futures.
Currently, the AGILE Project is being implemented in seven Local Government Areas across Nasarawa State: Awe, Doma, Keana, Kokona, Lafia, Nasarawa, and Wamba. Sensitization workshops are scheduled to continue across the three senatorial zones, targeting key stakeholders such as school principals to enhance the program’s overall impact.
