The Niger State government is to deploy one million computers and tablets to all public schools in the state, even as 1,000 female students will be sponsored to study medical courses every year.
The governor, Mohammed Umaru Bago, disclosed this at the traditional and religious leaders conference on the significance of girls’ education in the North Central Geopolitical Zone of the country, which was held in Minna.
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Bago, who said the world has moved on technologically, emphasised that the procurement of computers and tablets commenced to ensure that pupils and students in government schools have access to the gadgets.
He also disclosed that the state government had laid fibre optic cables to provide free internet services to public schools and other government institutions, explaining that the initiative’s pilot scheme would soon commence in Minna.
The governor reaffirmed that the state government is in tandem with the vision of the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning & Empowerment AGILE in ensuring that the girl child is educated.
On this premise, the governor added that the state government has a 10-year programme that will provide scholarships to 1,000 females every year to study nursing, medicine, and other medical-related courses.
He said the state government has attached importance to the girl child and is rolling out many initiatives, including the call Centre Project, which will see many females become call operators.
In his remarks, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, said the ultimate goal of the conference is for the traditional and religious leaders to champion and campaign for girl child education.
The minister of education, Olatunji Alausa, represented by the ministry’s director, who is also the principal of Federal Government College Minna, Suraju Darda’u, highlighted the crucial role of traditional and religious leaders in society and enjoined them to intensify their efforts to create awareness among their subjects on the need to educate female children.