The Katsina State Government has already forwarded an Executive Bill to the State House of Assembly for the establishment of an ICT Directorate to gather data about various sectors in the State.
Governor Dikko Umaru Radda, who disclosed this at the World Bank office in Abuja, also revealed that he has forwarded a separate Executive Bill to the State lawmakers for the creation of an Irrigation Authority.
This was contained in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Kaula Mohammed in Katsina.
This, he said, was geared towards engaging Katsina youths all-year round in farming, so as to curb criminality and other social vices in the State.
Governor Radda’s visit to the World Bank office, according to Ibrahim Kaula Mohammed, his spokesperson, was part of boosting the strategic engagement between the Katsina Government and the international donor agency.
While commending the bank for heavily investing in Katsina’s economy, the Governor said that World Bank’s intervention in key sectors in the State had helped the Katsina Government tremendously.
He particularly mentioned the AGILE Project and appreciated the way it is being executed in the State, pointing out that the construction of 75 schools in Katsina by the World Bank was greatly commendable.
Said Governor Dikko Radda: “The mega school projects will help tackle the menace of out-of-school children in our State. On our part, and as a responsible government, we shall soon be embarking on training and retraining of teachers across Katsina primary and secondary schools”.
He solicited the assistance of the World Bank to establish three Model Schools for gifted Katsina children from poor backgrounds, with a view to particularly boost the enrollment figure of the girl child in schools.
While seeking the assistance of the international monetary body in building a Data Bank for the state, Radda said: “I have sent a Bill to the Katsina House Assembly to establish an ICT Directorate to help the State gather data in all sectors. Data is the bedrock of societal development. Talking about quality healthcare, our government is planning to establish a functional Healthcare Centre in each of the 361 wards in the State, to address the issue of maternal mortality”.
Responding, Shubham Chaudhuri, the Country Director of World Bank in Nigeria, thanked Governor Dikko Radda for the visit, noting that Katsina State has been making giant strides in the implementation of many World Bank programmes, particularly AGILE.
“The AGILE project will see to the construction of 150 new Secondary Schools in Katsina State. We shall also be renovating 300 existing Secondary Schools, while training 13,000 teachers between now, and July 2025.
“Again, we shall ensure that 200 Katsina secondary schools are connected with internet services, in addition to having 19KVA solar system and desktop computers each. Equally, we shall be training 9,000 teachers on digital literacy and remote learning. There is also a project we shall be undertaking for 17,000 Katsina school girls and female teachers, among others,” Chaudhuri said.
