The Katsina State Government under the State Ministry for Basic and Secondary Education in collaboration with the Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) Project has engaged traditional, and religious leaders and other stakeholders in a town hall meeting aimed at making them understand the rationale of the project.

The meeting was to also seek stakeholders’ support to amplify the gospel of the project to the communities and to create a sustainable way of discussing the solutions within the communities so that they can sustain the good work.

Speaking during a sensitisation meeting held on Thursday at the Education Resource Centre, Katsina with 621 traditional and religious leaders on the implementation of the project across the state for their support and monitoring of the project implementation, the State AGILE Project Coordinator Mustapha Shehu gave the general update on what the project entails.

“We convey this town hall meeting in order to discuss with the communities to inform them what the project is doing and what it plans to do and then seek their support.

“We convey this town hall meeting in order to discuss with the communities to inform them what the project is doing and what it plans to do and then seek their support.

“The second reason is that we want to create sustainability right from now not until the project ends.

“So, we invite the traditional leaders, religious institutions, youth organisations, women groups, and the media so that we tell them what we have been doing in the interest of the communities and the challenges we are facing and what role can they play not only to help us address the challenges to a maximum level but also to support us in sustaining the project.

“We have convened this type of meeting in Daura and Funtua senatorial districts and today we are in Katsina.

“From the beginning of the project to date, this is the 176th time we have met different levels of stakeholders in order to join hands together in the interest of the children of Katsina State.

“At the end of this meeting, we will have improved or increased the understanding and awareness of the project to the stakeholders. District heads and chief imams of weekly mosques, teachers, and zonal coordinators are here.

“So, it means is a combination of all key actors, direct and indirect actors in the business of education from the community perspective and we will continue this kind of sensitisation up to the end of the project.

“So, by the time we are ending and while the government is providing additional budget to continue from where we stop, the communities are already aware that they have a strong commitment to sustain the project,” Shehu highlighted.

The AGILE Project Coordinator while highlighting some of the challenges faced while implementing the project said they are many and systemic.

He stated that in certain areas, some unpatriotic citizens were trying to smuggle in people who didn’t exist to benefit from the scholarship.

“We also have a few instances where some FDMCs do not involve other community members in the renovation of schools and we are taking action.

“So far so good, there is a positive impact on the project with communities and stakeholders are happy. We are constructing schools where they are most needed. We are giving scholarships to the poorest of the poor, we are sensitizing the right stakeholders, we are training teachers and we are providing vocational skills and life skills to the much-needed students across schools and communities.

“So, you can see a lot of concerns, complaints, comments, and observations coming from the stakeholders that could help right the wrong,” Shehu noted.

One of the participants and religious leader Imam Nasiruddeen Adam Funtua assured total support to the AGILE Project, describing it as one capable of changing the narrative of the entire sector of education in the state.

“I understand that this AGILE Project is in the good interest of the Katsina State education sector and will no doubt discourage our adolescent girls from hawking on the streets and other anti-social, cultural, religious, and constitutional practices.

“So, I am optimistic and in support of this project 100% because it means well for the state education sector,” Funtua added.

The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by July 1st, 2025.

Culled from Channels TV