The World Bank, through the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) Project, has renovated 749 classrooms and constructed 214 solar-powered boreholes across schools in Sokoto State.

The AGILE project is a World Bank-funded initiative aimed at improving secondary enrolment and completion rates among girls aged 10 to 20 in Nigeria.

The state’s AGILE project coordinator, Mansur Isa-Buhari, disclosed this during a media roundtable with media executives on Monday in Sokoto.

Represented by his assistant on the system-strengthening component, lead Suleiman Musa, Mr Isa-Buhari said the programme had recorded significant progress in improving education and school infrastructure in Sokoto State.

He said the interventions focused on improving learning environments, adding that 94 of 161 planned activities in 2025 were carried out across the state.

”The project renovated 749 classrooms and constructed 214 solar-powered boreholes in 240 schools across Sokoto State.

”The AGILE project also constructed 1,652 toilet units across the 23 local government areas of the state, significantly improving sanitation and hygiene in schools,” he said.

According to him, the project planted 4,480 trees in 224 schools, introduced eco-friendly clubs in all participating secondary schools, and enrolled 16,528 adolescent girls out of the 17,000 targeted for 2025.

He added that AGILE also supplied 11,221 desks to schools and trained 2,240 School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) members on school environmental management and social compliance.

Mr Isa-Buhari further revealed that the project distributed 97,446 teaching and learning materials to 240 secondary schools, while 41,821 beneficiaries received support under the conditional cash transfer (CCT) component of the project during the year.

He noted that Sokoto State had about 2,000 primary schools and 600 secondary schools, a gap that informed AGILE’s plan to establish 58 additional smart secondary schools across the state.

Presenting the project’s performance report, the monitoring and evaluation component lead, Muhammad Mainasara, said AGILE recorded 53 per cent implementation progress in 2025.

Mr Mainasara said that out of the 161 activities planned for 2025, 78 activities, representing 43 per cent, had been completed; 16 activities, representing 10 per cent, were ongoing; and one activity was being delayed.

”Seven activities have been rescheduled. This brings the total number of implemented activities to 94, representing 53 per cent completion,” he explained.

Speaking also, the communication component lead, Rabi Gwadabawa, described the media as a key partner in the success of the AGILE Project.

She noted that on the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) component, AGILE was providing life-skills training through a safe-space approach.

“These life skills include communication skills, menstrual hygiene management for adolescent girls at the secondary school level, and early-stage climate change awareness,” she added.

(NAN)