The World Bank has set aside 500 million dollars as grant to fund basic education in five states of the country for five years.

Helen Okoro, the Information Officer of the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.

She credited the information to Olatunde Adekola, Head, World Bank International Reconstruction and Development team.

Okoro explained that the fund was for the Global Partnership for Education, GPE, which was established to improve access to quality education at the basic level in Kano, Kaduna, Jigawa, Sokoto and Katsina states.

“Five hundred million dollars has been set aside as Global Partnership for Education (GPE)/ Nigerian Partnership for Education Project (NIPEP) to fund education in the five beneficiary states of Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Sokoto,’’ she said.

Okoro quoted Adekola as commending the Federal Government for the NIPEP project and saying that it was the first time government was focusing on strategies aimed at moving the basic education sub-sector forward.

She said the 2.5 billion dollars credit that the Federal Government requested from the World Bank to finance the 2016 budget could only be released after fulfilling certain conditions.

Okoro also quoted the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Hamid Bobboyi, as assuring the World Bank of the government’s commitment to reposition basic education delivery in Nigeria.