US steps up response to education crisis in Borno with $4.1m             

United State government, through its Agency for International Development (USAID), on Wednesday announced the expansion of its Education Crisis Response Activity into Borno State with a $4.1 million investment.

 Already active in the northeastern Nigerian states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, and Yobe, USAID’s expansion of its Education Crisis Response Activity into Borno represents a major milestone.

This expansion adds to the $130 million of USAID’s humanitarian activities in northeast Nigeria since 2014.

 “The objective of these efforts is to provide assistance to approximately 60,000 internally displaced children and youth, ages six to 17, and their host communities,” the agency said in a statement.

The expansion into Borno State is planned to include the opening of 150 non-formal learning centres that will provide access to schooling to nearly 6,000 internally displaced children and youth.

Ongoing conflicts in Nigeria’s northeast have created a complex humanitarian and economic crisis that has affected millions of people.

Insurgents have targeted schools in local communities, disrupting teaching, constraining children’s access to schooling and placing significant stress on the communities hosting displaced families that are fleeing violence in their home areas.

In response to this situation, USAID has supported local and state initiatives that are responding to the urgent educational needs of these children and youth.

“The United States stands as a proud partner of the Nigerian people in their fight against violent extremism.  Borno State is the epicentre of that fight,” said USAID mission director, Michael Harvey.

According to him, “we will not shy away from our commitment to those hardest hit in this humanitarian crisis. Our expansion of education efforts into Borno indicates progress that we all can be proud of.”

Since early 2015, USAID’s Education Crisis Response activity has opened 408 non-formal learning centres, providing schooling to approximately 37,000 internally displaced children and youth. The project has also trained 923 learning facilitators.