A delegation from the World Bank, led by Martin De Simone, Task Team Leader and Education Specialist for the Africa Region, has stated that the EdoBEST programme is a good model that should be replicated in other states across Nigeria.
The delegation made this statement when it paid a courtesy call on His Excellency, Godwin Obaseki, Executive Governor of Edo State while on a three-day working visit for a midterm review of the Edo Basic Education Sector and Skills Transformation (EdoBESST) project.
The EdoBEST programme is an initiative of the Edo state government through the Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (Edo SUBEB). The programme currently provides quality education to over 370,000 children across the 18 LGAs in Edo state.
De Simone, while commending the government’s commitment to improving the quality of basic education and skills in the state, noted that “the major focus is to identify areas to strengthen in the project implementation to ensure that all the results are achieved and lessons learnt for the future and for other states.”
Gloria Raji, senior economist and co-task team leader, World Bank, in her assessment noted that “the World Bank is proud of Edo State and happy with the partnership with the state.”
She added: “This is exactly the sort of approach the World Bank Country Management is thinking of adopting for a broader engagement across Nigeria with regard to reforms in education.”
Addressing the delegation, Governor Obaseki explained that the state is employing various strategies to strengthen education systems in the state. He noted that the sustainability of the programme even after his tenure is a top priority.
“The most important thing for us as a state is the proper utilisation of the facilities we received from the World Bank. We are utilising the facilities to cascade reforms and development across a wider spectrum of government. Our focus is on the sustainability of all our reforms in the last six years”, Obaseki noted.
Governor Obaseki also noted that his government is open to helping peer states implement and domesticate the programme to ensure that more children have access to quality education in Nigeria.
The governor noted, “We have been getting enquiries from our peer states who want to implement and we must be clear in our minds how we got to where we are to help them avoid the same pitfalls we faced. It worked for us; it is good for Nigeria.”
