PROGRAMS AND EVENTS

Ambassador Sanders Presents Girls Scholarships in Niger State

Date: January 30, 2009
Venue: Minna, Niger State

Boy receives a Bicycle from Ambassador Sanders at part of AGSP | Full size

Over two hundred people including students from primary and secondary schools in Niger State converged at the Tafsir Hall of the New Horizons College, Minna for the presentation of scholarships under the Ambassador’s Girls Scholarship Program for boys and girls.  Speaking to a visibly excited audience, which included parents, guardians and school administrators, Ambassador Robin Renée Sanders described education as a key pillar in any democracy and reiterated the U.S. Mission’s commitment to investing in the people of Nigeria through the provision of quality education in collaboration with the government of Nigeria.   

Ambassador Sanders said the scholarships are an invaluable contribution for less privileged students to acquire quality education that will last a lifetime and added that “the people and Government of the United States are providing assistance that will make a real difference in the lives of the people of Niger State.” 

The Ambassador’s Girl Scholarship Program began in Nigeria in 2004 as part of the U.S. Government’s Africa Education Initiative, which was designed to increase access to quality basic education in Africa through the provision of scholarships, textbooks, teacher training programs and other activities.

Overall, the program has assisted over 9,149 Nigerian children and the United States has spent over $1 million in providing scholarships in Nigeria.  In Niger State, where the program is being implemented by the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria (FOMWAN), over 225 children in 26 schools have benefited from the program.

School bags, bicycles and sowing machines were distributed at the event attended by the Chairman and Director General of the Islamic Education Trust, Sheikh Ahmed Lemu and Hajiya Aisha Ahmed Lemu respectively.