• UNICEF-FCDO CRIBS project delivers life changing experience for pupils in Kano, Jigawa states
From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
On April 17, 2025, at about 9am, 11-year-old Aisha Mohammed, a Primary 5 pupil at Kawon Lambu Nomadic Primary School, in Nassarawa Local Government Area of Kano State, stood amazed by the transformation in her school.
Since resumption in January 2025, to give way for renovation, the authorities relocated young Aisha and the other 1491 pupils to a nearby school where, they shared space to learn as separate schools. Aisha thought they might not return to their school.
Kawon Lambu Nomadic Primary School is among the 6896 primary schools in Kano state, most of them, unfit for pupils to learn in. In Jigawa State, there are 2,831 public primary schools. Many, if not all of these schools are poorly maintained.
At Kawon Lambu Nomadic Primary School, Aisha recounted her experience with poor school maintenance situation saying: “Nearly all classroom desks were broken, and we sat on broken floor to learn.”
From Aisha’s story, there was lack of maintenance and this was made worse by the effect of climate change on the school buildings. The rains washed off most building foundations leaving many cracks on the walls.
She continued: “Before now, we had only one toilet, which was bad. There were no flowers around the premises. We used to have dilapidated ceilings and sometimes, we feared they will fall on us. These things affected our learning and sometimes we were scared to come to school.
“The hand dug well, which was the only water source, dried up permanently and the school toilet abandoned due to lack of operation and maintenance. Everything in our school now is new and fine.”
Aisha was not alone in this experience. Many of the school pupils in Kano and Jigawa states share a similar experience as Aisha whose voice filled with gratitude, shyly spoke about her school’s transformation.
“My school was not as nice as it is now,” she said, highlighting the previously poor state of restrooms and lack of water, school desks, and flowers around the premises among others. “Now, I and my friends no longer miss school.
“Today, we see functional toilets, nicely decorated environment with flowers, and modernized classrooms with better facilities. It is a conducive learning environment. We are happy. We appreciate the state government and UNICEF. May God reward them for giving us a better school.”
Aisha’s new schooling experience came through the United Nations Children’s Fund, Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office, Climate Change Resilient Basic Services (UNICEF-FCDO CRIBS) project intervention.
The UNICEF-FCDO CRIBS project assesses and mitigates climate risks affecting primary schools and Primary Health Centres services and demonstrates scalable models for building and operating climate-resilient infrastructure in vulnerable areas. The project has delivered significant life changing schooling experience to pupils in over 60 schools within Kano and Jigawa State in Nigeria. The present look of the schools is an attraction for children of school age to enroll for education.
Looking at Aisha’s experience in a poorly maintained school and her excitement about a better school, it is right to say the UNICEF-FCDO CRIBS Project represents a working model to address the challenges of out of school children, poor school enrolment and low completion rate.
The National Bureau of Statistics estimates about one million out-of-school-children in Kano and nearly half a million in Jigawa State. Lack of child-friendly school environment is an important factor contributing to high of out-of-school-children numbers, which the CRIBS project has successfully demonstrated how to address the challenge.
A tour across most primary schools in the state shows significant face-lift. One important point repeated from one school to the other in the speeches by both staff and pupils was that, improving the school environment also increases the motivation to teach among the teachers and learn among pupils, this will eventually translate to better educational outcomes.
Abdullahi Bello, the Head Teacher of Zangon Dawanou Central Primary School in Dawakin Tofa LGA lamented the near absence of facilities before the UNICEF-FCDO CRIBS intervention, which he blamed on the lack of operation and maintenance.
Also, Nasiru Lawan, a Head Teacher of Kafin Maiyaki Special Primary School in Kiru LGA said the CRIBS project brought new inspiration to both staffers and pupils. Lawan said: “Out of the over 3000 pupils in my school, some had desks but majority, in some cases up to 200 pupils per class were sitting on the floor to learn. The water source was like a pond, pupils would go behind the toilet to defecate because the toilets were not neat.
“Now UNICEF has renovated everything; we have new classes, safe water and clean toilet facilities. This will attract more children to school and help them learn in a better environment. We have learned through this project that it is important for us to maintain school facilities so that they never go dysfunctional again.
UNICEF-FCDO CRIBS project prioritizes building operation and maintenance capacities; this has been a missing key link to have sustainable primary school and primary health services. Through broad consultation facilitated by the project, the state developed a sustainable operation and maintenance system. With the current Operation and Maintenance (O&M) arrangement, each primary school stakeholders develop operational plans and signs agreement with service providers to ensure facilities are maintained.
Mr. George Ugbong, the UNICEF CRIBS consultant on sustainability, explained during one of the O&M contract signing sessions in Nassarawa LGA of Kano State, that the O&M model ensures that; plans, finances and capacities exist at facility, LGA and state levels, to support operation and maintenance in schools and primary health centres.
While describing the O&M model as a means to ensure resilient service provision, he noted that over time, despite huge sums of money invested by the state governments and its partners in providing schools and primary health facilities, the lack of operation and maintenance has constituted a barrier to accessing services for so many people.
According to Liman of Kafin Hausa Special Primary School “when something spoils, we don’t repair it and eventually it is completely damaged: chairs, desks, toilet and water facilities for instance, we don’t repair them from the beginning until they all spoil beyond repairs.
Ugbong explained: “This attitude prevents community members, women and children from patronizing the health centers and public schools.”
CRIBS project has built capacity and systems within primary schools and PHCs to address O&M gaps that lead to issues such as dilapidated Infrastructure, broken chairs, desks, leaking roofs and unkempt toilet facilities, among others.
Ugbong sensitized the stakeholders that by keeping the schools and healthcare facilities in neat and functional condition, more children and women are encouraged to attend school and visit clinics, reducing the risk of infections, out of schoolchildren, poverty and improving overall well-being of families.
He also stated that, although the project is targeting few schools, it is only a learning model as the state and local government are to scale up the implementation to the rest of the schools and PHCs.
During the engagements, the executive chairman of Kano State Universal Basic Education Board, (SUBEB), Mallam Yusuf Kabir, expressed gratitude to UNICEF and FCDO for the efforts, acknowledging the fantastic work they have done in the schools.
The Jigawa State Commissioner for Basic Education, Dr. Lawan Yunusa Danzoma, maintained that, Jigawa State will do its best to ensure replication and sustainability of the projects.
Both stakeholders emphasized the need to imbibe a maintenance culture and propose continuous collaboration with UNICEF to monitor progress and encourage greater community participation.
Mallam Yusuf said: “By working together, Kano State government and UNICEF aim to provide standard facilities that benefit students, teachers, and the broader community.
At the sub-level of government, the chairman of council, Hon Yusuf Sha’aibu Imam, Nassarawa LGA said, UNICEF projects have made his council one of the best in Kano State in terms of primary education and primary health care.
He pledged his support, especially to appoint O&M Desk officer and provide finances to monitor and ensure successful operation and maintenance of PHCs and Primary Schools in his LG.
In each of the Primary Schools and Primary Health Centres supported by CRIBs project, the communities’ representatives, School Based Management Committees (SBMCs) and Ward Development Committees (WDCs), the schools and PHC management signed operational agreements with private service providers to ensure operation and maintenance services are provided.
The successful completion of this project is a call to action for the state and all stakeholders to scale up the project to other schools and health centers and do their bit to ensure a measurable operation and maintenance for long lasting and mutually beneficial services delivery at primary schools and PHC across the two UNICEF CRIBS states.