Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris has expressed disappointment over the performance of the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment, AGILE, project’s performance in the state.
He made the disclosure while receiving AGILE team led by Mr Shinsaku Nomura Task Team Leader, AGILE, in Government House, Birnin Kebbi on Friday.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that AGILE is a World Bank-supped project that stands for Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment.
It is a World Bank-supported initiative aims at improving secondary education opportunities for girls in targeted states.
NAN also reports that the project focuses on creating safe learning spaces, fostering an enabling environment, and providing life skills and digital literacy training to empower adolescent girls.
The Governor said: “I am not impressed with the way AGILE work in Kebbi is moving, let me be very frank with you.
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“I am a teacher, if I see something, no matter what I will say it, even if it affects me.
“That’s why when I came newly, I removed the people that were there before.”
The governor recalled that a contract of about N7.8 billion was awarded, lamenting that they said nobody in Kebbi was qualified for such a contract.
“I said no, it can’t happen, even if it happened before, not during my time.
*Every category of contractor you are looking for, you will get it in Kebbi,” he insisted.
Idris expressed concern that they held a bidding for the award of the contract at Yauri instead of the state capital, saying: “they are very secretive, very cultist, I say no let them be transparent.
“We are in democracy not autocracy or dictatorship.
*Therefore, our people should not be denied, I think we should be able to do the correct thing, yet some of these contracts are not moving at all.”
The governor cited one contract along Gwandu road, which he said had started since before he became the Governor, “that contract is still there, let’s be seeing doing the correct thing.”
According to Idris, he is the only Teacher-Governor in Nigeria, therefore, he was interested in AGILE project, adding, “I don’t want a situation where Kebbi is left behind.”
Earlier, the task team leader appreciated the governor for the hospitality accorded to the team.
Nomura lauded the role of Kebbi Government in AGILE project, adding that the World Bank appreciated the partnership with Kebbi.
He told the governor that in the last two days the team had visited many schools’ construction sites across the state.
The team leader stated that the AGILE project was ongoing in 18 states of the federation
