EDTF VISITS BRITISH COUNCIL, ABUJA, NIGERIA.
The Bayelsa State Education Development Trust Fund (EDTF) has taken its partnership drive for the improvement of education in Bayelsa State to the British Council.
Speaking at the Council in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of the EDTF, Dr. Alice Atuwo, said the decision to visit the British Council for partnership is in line with the fund’s objective to reach out to critical stakeholders in the sector, within and outside the country, through the Development Partners Committee of the Fund. The Executive Secretary noted that, in an era of technology, the state needs to seek ways of deploying technology in its remote schools, assuring the British Council that the state has the necessary structures to implement agreed-upon programmes, while affirming the government’s preparedness to provide counterpart funding where necessary.
On his part, the Acting Chairman, Professor Francis Sikoki, said the Fund will be interested in programmes targeted at the girl child and any other aspect, outside of education, that would benefit the state, as he commended the British Council for the different programmes executed in the country.
Responding, the Country Director, Programmes of the British Council, Mr. Chikodi Onyemerela, lauded the EDTF for the bold initiative and promised to include the state in its programmes, despite the British Council’s limited resources to cover more states.
Correspondent reports that the Country Director invited the state to the Council’s “Going Global” Conference, which will be held in Nigeria for the first time, for critical stakeholders to see how research works are commercialized, urging the state to send at least three professors to the conference for experience sharing.