The First Lady of Bauchi State, Hajiya Hadiza Mohammed Abubakar, has awarded scholarships to 115 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and other orphans and vulnerable children to acquire formal education in various schools in the state.
While flagging off the scholarship award at the banquet hall of the Bauchi Government House, the governor’s wife said that the scholarship was sponsored by her pet project known, “Bauchi Sustainable Women Economic Empowerment and Peace Initiative (BSWEEP).”
According to her, the scholarship covered the payment of registrations fees, purchase of uniforms, bags, text books and exercise books for the beneficiaries.
He called on the other non-governmental organizations and philanthropists to support her project in promoting education in the state ‘as the burden are enormous’.
Also, the Coordinator of BSWEEP, Professor Dije Bala, said that the NGO was established by Hajiya Abubakar with the set goal of assisting the less-privileged women and promoting girl-child education in the state.
She noted that the organization had identified about 6, 000 children who dropped out of school across the state due to poverty and other social problems, adding that BSWEEP was partnering with UNESCO to re-enroll them in schools.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Bauchi State Ministry of Education, Nasiru Yelwa, claimed that the present administration in the state had since inception been giving priority to the education by increasing budgetary allocations to 17 percent and 27 percent to the sector in 2016 and 2017, respectively as against three percent in 2015.