Northern Hibiscus unveils plans for Edu Kids Academy
By Uji Abdullahi Iliyasu
Abuja
Northern Hibiscus Initiative (NHI) a non-governmental organisation (NGO) committed to rallying support for the socio-economic development of northern Nigeria, has unveiled plans for Edu Kids Academy project to the media during a virtual press conference highlighting the vision and mission of the academy.
The Academy project is aimed at addressing the educational needs of indigent children between the ages of 2 and 5 years by providing them with a highly subsidized basic education in a very conducive environment with modern learning facilities.
Speaking on the project, the
founder and CEO of Northern Hibiscus, Aisha Falke, reiterated the NGO’s total commitment to the project. She said that Edu Kids commenced operations three years ago (September 2019) with a pioneer population of 125 pupils from less privileged homes in the society.
“Edu Kids is one project we at Northern Hibiscus are proud to be associated with and we have resolved it must succeed. Our ultimate goal is to see northern Nigeria be at par with its southern counterpart in every aspect starting from the foundation which is education.
“We have discovered that education is a powerful tool we can use to liberate people from the shackles of poverty. Compared to other parts of the country, the North is far behind. We are determined to bridge the gap by providing highly affordable and quality education, which we believe will help us achieve our goal in the long run. The whole idea is to catch them young, that is why we have started with little children because they are the future, we see today without them there is no tomorrow.
“Our vision is to provide state-of-the-art learning facilities for the indigent kids. The task is quite enormous but we are committed to galvanising the much-needed support from well-meaning Nigerians, international donor organisations, and corporate bodies to key into this laudable programme which will be beneficial not just to Northern Nigeria alone, but to the entire country,” Falke said.
At present, the school is operating from a temporary site in Kano Municipal, Kano state, equipped with conducive blocks of classrooms; recreational facilities; toilet facilities; play toys; computers; educational learning aids; etc.
“As part of the expansion plan, we have acquired a piece of land for the permanent site in Kano, to accommodate both primary and post-primary school classes which we hope to commence the infrastructural development as soon as we can raise the required funding. We have designed a prototype of the proposed structure we have in mind. When completed it should be able to conveniently accommodate 1,500 students at once.
“Northern Hibiscus Initiative (NHI) is a not-for-profit organisation, established in May 2019, with the desire to achieve significant improvement in the socio-economic life of northern youths. Northern Nigeria has an estimated population of over 90 million with an average age of 18 years signifying a relatively young population.
We hope to contribute to the country’s ability to achieve the United Nations 2030 agenda on Sustainable Development. NHI seeks to achieve the following SDG goals – SDG 1: No poverty; SDG 2: Zero Hunger; SDG 4: Quality Education; SDG 8: Decent work and Economic Growth and SDG 17: Partnership to achieve the goals. Similarly, NHI hopes to increase youths’ accessibility to seed funding for entrepreneurship and small-scale investments. For more information visit: www.nhinitiative.org
