The Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) has signed a $98milion (N40.5 billion per official rates) loan facility for the Bilingual Education Project in Nigeria (BEP) in Nigeria.

The project which will be cited in nine states of the country is meant to bridge the gap between formal and informal education using Arabic and English.

David Apeh, spokesman for the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), coordinators of the project, said the project is aimed at contributing to the improvement of the socio-economic condition of Nigeria, ensuring inclusive education and promoting bilingual education.

In a statement on Wednesday, the commission noted that the participating states include: Adamawa, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger and Osun. 

UBEC said the major components of the project is to create access to basic education, improve quality and enhance the management capacity of school administrators.

The commission said that 30 bilingual education boarding schools would be constructed in the benefiting states to boost enrolment and reduce out-of-school-children syndrome among other things.

The project is being coordinated at the national level by the National Coordinating Unit (NCU) of UBEC with supervision from the the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

The NCU has already engaged consultants to design, review and supervise the civil works of the projects.

It has also engaged the services of a Monitoring and Evaluation consultant.

The executive secretary of UBEC, Hamid Bobboyi, disclosed that the project was a loan and everything must be done to ensure effective implementation and prudent management.