EU Initiative to Educate 300,000 Out-of-School Children in North West Nigeria
A European Union-funded consortium, led by Plan International Nigeria, Save the Children International, and the Dispute Resolution and Development Initiative, aims to return over 300,000 out-of-school children to education in the Northwest states of Kano, Jigawa, and Sokoto.
Salome A. 
This initiative will be implemented through the Accelerated Basic Education Program (ABEP), a non-formal education system.
Tobi Ransomed, the EU Consortium Lead and Education Advisor for Plan International Nigeria, announced this during a project startup workshop in Kano. The three-year project, running from July 2024 to June 2027, is designed to address the high number of out-of-school children in the region, which contributes significantly to Nigeria’s total of approximately 20 million out-of-school children and youth, as reported by UNESCO in 2022.
The project aims to provide inclusive, gender-transformative, and conflict-sensitive education and skill development, particularly for girls in rural, underserved, and nomadic communities. It will also offer vocational training, including green jobs, to develop critical skills for women, girls, youths, and nomads.
The initiative will target 12 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across the three states, with Kano having the highest number of targeted LGAs. The project will focus on children aged 10 to 18, including nomads and children with disabilities. Out of the 324,000 targeted for ABEP, 60,000 will receive support for vocational skills training.
