The Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, announced plans to recruit over 774,000 Girl Child Education Volunteers’ Advocates (GICEVA) annually across Nigeria’s 774 Local Government Areas.
This initiative aims to improve access and quality of education nationwide.
Governor AbdulRazaq made this announcement during the second day of the International Conference on Girl-Child Education, themed “Girl Child Empowerment through Quality Education.”
He emphasized the NGF’s commitment to education financing, with a focus on making girl child education a priority, especially at the basic education level.
The conference was part of the NGF’s Education Community of Practice (ECP) framework, which is designed to address educational challenges.
Presentations included strategies such as the DOTS framework and the review of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act 2004, focusing on data-driven education quality and subnational government roles.
The NGF, in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education, development partners, and Civil Society Organizations, aims to implement the Federal Government’s Education Roadmap.
This collaboration seeks to address inequity in education and promote inclusive skills development through national and subnational partnerships.
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Governor AbdulRazaq praised the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, for her keynote address on empowering Girl Child Education Ambassadors.
He explained that the NGF will engage GICEVA volunteers annually in partnership with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), focusing on school enrolment drives, foundational literacy and numeracy, and teacher capacity training.
The NGF also launched its Education Expenditure and Institutional Review report (2021-2023), reiterating its commitment to increasing education funding, with a vision to meet the international benchmark of allocating at least 15% of the annual budget to education.
The NGF aims to scale up quality education through improved infrastructure, instructional materials, and digital literacy skills acquisition.