By
Bamanga Abdullahi Gombi
More than twenty four thousand adolescent girls enrolled in the World Bank-assisted Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment AGILE programme in Adamawa State, face uncertainty over delayed education support payments, raising concerns about a possible increase in school dropout rates.
Radio Nigeria correspondent in Yola, speaks with beneficiaries, parents and teachers about the delays, which have worsened their hardship and raised fears of increased school dropout among girls.
The Adamawa State Chairman of the Parents-Teachers Association PTA, Alhaji Lawan Abubakar Umar, said parents had complained that some beneficiaries received debit alerts without making transactions.
He called for an investigation to ensure accountability and timely payment, to avoid discouraging beneficiaries and increasing rate of drop out.
“Most parents have been calling that their children have not received these money, we are also going to use our medium, to to verify the situation on grown to make sure this thing wether is a reality or not.”
On his part, Mr. Medugu Usiju of Kircinga town, in Madagali local government area, said during the first validation exercise conducted by AGILE officials at Government Day Senior Secondary School, Kircinga, the Principal reportedly engaged the services of an external Guidance and Counsellor, who allegedly used the opportunity to include beneficiaries not enrolled in the school.
The development has raised concerns among stakeholders in the area, who are calling for a more transparent and thorough verification process to ensure that only genuine and eligible students benefit from the intervention.
“Even my Daughter is a victim, she was issued with the ATM card for the past three months, but to date nothing has been credited to her account”.
The Principal of Government Girls Day Secondary School, Gombi, Mrs Naomi Williams, attributed the delays to possible discrepancies in names, National Identification Numbers NIN, Bank Verification Numbers BVN and bank details, as well as data validation and network challenges.
She said the school had forwarded the list of affected students to the AGILE Desk Officer for corrections.
“At the Government Girls Day Secondary School, Gombi, a total of 275 girls have been enrolled and captured under the AGILE initiative. So far, 74 of them have received support payment, while the remaining 201 are eagerly awaiting their turn to benefit from the program.”
She also warned against including ineligible private school students in the programme, maintaining that her school would not accept such intrusion, no matter the influence involved.
One of the affected students, Hauwa’u Abubakar, a Senior Secondary School One student, said she was enrolled on July 4 but had yet to receive payment, despite her mother’s bank account reportedly having no issues.
“I was enrolled and captured successfully, and my mother’s bank account has no issues. But those responsible for the financial disbursement have remained silent without giving any concrete reason,”
The AGILE Desk Officer in Adamawa State Mr. Siddiki Liman acknowledged concerns over delayed conditional cash transfers, citing possible data verification, school record validation and banking issues.
Liman said the programme was working with relevant authorities and financial institutions to resolve the issues, urging unpaid beneficiaries to submit complaints through official channels.
The Desk Officer disclosed that beneficiary selection and unauthorised debits would be investigated, with discrepancies corrected and appropriate action taken where necessary.
“About cohort, with 23,753 receiving 40,000 naira after registration and 10,000 per term for the 2024/2025 academic year. ”
He added that 21,899 girls in the second cohort had received 60,000 naira for the 2025/2026 academic year.
Validation for the 2026/2027 academic year, covering students entering Junior Secondary School One and Senior Secondary School One, is expected to begin the following Monday.
