UNICEF, Katsina Govt launch Cash Transfer to support over 20,000 Out-of- School Children

By Victoria Onehi

The Katsina State Government, UNICEF and partners have launched a cash transfer programme which will provide learning opportunities for over 20,000 out-of-school children in the state and improve the socio-economic wellbeing of beneficiaries and their households.

A Statement by UNICEF disclosed that there are currently 536,132 out of school children in Katsina State.

“The partnership between Katsina State Government and  UNICEF has yielded many positive results, not just in the education sector, but in other sectors of the state,” Governor of Katsina State Aminu Bello Maisari,saida t the launch in Mani.

“We are grateful to UNICEF and the Educate A Child (EAC) project for the funds. The Programme Implementation Unit for the cash transfer programme will monitor the programme closely and ensure that the beneficiaries make judicious use of the resources,” Maisari added.

Through the cash transfer programme, a total of ₦332,832,000 will be disbursed to 20,802 out-of-school children (OOSC) and Almajiris in Kafur, Mani and Safana LGAs of Katsina State. The funds will be disbursed through 10,557 female parents/caregivers to  increase school enrolment and attendance rates for boys and girls.

Each female parent/caregiver will receive N8,000 per  tranche twice in  2022, amounting to N16,000.per beneficiary.

The cash transfer programme will also ensure that beneficiaries are enrolled and retained in any form of organized  school, including Integrated Qur’anic Schools (IQS) and provided with literacy and numeracy skills linked to employability and livelihood schemes.

 UNICEF Representative in Nigeria.Peter Hawkins in the Statement had this to say.

“UNICEF is excited that with this launch, we’ll be addressing  the important issues of not just access to education, but quality of learning as we focus on literacy and numeracy skills to build the foundation for employability and livelihood skills,” 

* We are thankful to our partners, the Educate A Child Project, for funds for the cash transfer programme in Katsina State. The take-off of the cash transfer programme provides the opportunity to take children off the streets back to the classrooms where every school age child should be. We urge the government to continue to build on these interventions to ensure that every school age child is in school and learning,” Hawkins said