British-Nigeria Education Trust pledges continuous support to education

British-Nigeria Education Trust pledges continuous support to education

Members of the British-Nigeria Educational Trust (BNET) have pledged their continuous support to the development of education in Nigeria.

The members are made up of retirees mostly in their 80s lived and worked in Nigeria from the 1950s.

Mr Derek Reeves, the President of the Trust gave the pledge at a reception organised by the Nigerian High Commission in London.

Reeves said that the Trust which had been supporting education in Nigeria since the 1950s was currently undertaking borehole projects in various schools in Nigeria.

He added that it was also building classrooms and other infrastructures.

He listed capacity building and training of teachers as one of its main focus, while noting that schools and projects were selected based on request received by the group.

BNET is committed, through its endeavours, to increase the level of support given to the education of Nigerians.

"As a group, we all have close ties to Nigeria, and we will continue to contribute to education. Recently, we benefited from a donation of one million pounds and we are using it judiciously," he added.

In his remarks, Dr Dalhatu Tafida, Nigeria's High Commissioner to the UK, expressed gratitude to the group for its contribution to the development of education in the country.

Tafida said that in spite of challenges confronting the sector, government was committed to implementing reforms that would transform the sector.

"Government is focusing on access and quality, infrastructure, teacher quality and development, curriculum relevance as well as funding and planning."

According to him, to achieve the desired goal in education, government is institutionalising early childhood care and education and the Almajiri education.

Others are the back-to school programme and the revitalisation of adult and youth education.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Kings College, Lagos, Edo College, Benin, Bayero University, Kano and the Umutu Girls's Secondary school are some of the beneficiaries of the Trust.

The retirees were also treated to some Nigerian cuisine including pounded yam, amala and vegetable soup; jollof rice, fried plantain, fish and assorted meat.

BNET is a membership charity that promotes friendship and understanding between Britain and Nigeria through financial support for the benefit of education in Nigeria.


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