The World Bank has approved a $500 million credit to improve secondary education among females in seven Nigerian states namely Kano, Kebbi, Kaduna, Katsina, Borno, Plateau, and Ekiti.

A statement from the bank in Abuja on Wednesday noted that the credit was approved from its International Development Association which provides grants to developing countries.

The grants are with low to zero-interest loans for projects and programmes that contribute to economic growth and improve the livelihood of the populace in such nations.

The World Bank said the project would support access to secondary education and empowerment for adolescent girls in the seven states.

According to the statement, a minimum of six million girls and boys are expected to benefit from the project, and many more students are expected to continue benefiting after the project ends.

World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, said, “There is no better investment to accelerate Nigeria’s human capital development than to significantly boost girls’ education.

“The AGILE project will enable Nigeria to make progress in improving access and quality of education for girls, especially in northern Nigeria.

“Addressing the key structural impediments in a comprehensive way will create the enabling environment to help Nigeria ensure better outcomes for girls, which will translate into their ability to contribute to productivity and better economic outcomes for themselves and the country.

“The AGILE project will expand existing primary and Junior Secondary Schools to include both JSSs and Senior Secondary Schools to make schools functional, safe, and inclusive to teaching and learning.

“This entails building more than 5,500 JSSs and 3,300 classrooms for SSSs, as well as improving 2,786 Junior Secondary and 1,914 Senior Secondary schools with safe, accessible, and inclusive infrastructure.”