The Board of Executive Directors of Islamic Development Bank has approved a multi-year financial facility programme of 98 million dollars for the promotion of Bilingual Education in Nigeria.

This is contained in a statement issued by Mr David Apeh, Head, Public Relations and Protocol, Universal Basic Education Commission.

The commission said that the programme was for the period of 2012 to 2015.

The project is aimed at contributing to the improvement of the socio-economic condition of Nigeria, ensure inclusive education and promote bilingual education.

The commission said Adamawa, Borno, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger Osun are states earmarked to benefit from the project.

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 News Agency of Nigeria reports that the project is being coordinated at the national level by UBEC National Coordinating Unit with supervision from the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Finance.

NAN also reports that the NCU has already engaged consultants to design, review and supervise the civil works of the projects and has also engaged the services of a Monitoring and Evaluation consultant.

The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, disclosed that the project was a loan and all must be done to ensure effective implementation and prudent management.

(NAN)