Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq,the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development,  said this on Tuesday  while inaugurating  the Northwest STEM project at GSS in Rano, Kano State.

Umar-Farouq was represented at the occasion by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr Bashir Alkali.

She said that  the ministry had selected some Federal and State-owned Science/Technical Secondary Schools nationwide for the project.

The Minister said the project was aimed at providing e-learning facilities through the establishment of a state-of-the-art information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure at the  secondary school level.

She explained that doing so would assist in developing students’ ICT skills and the use of internet for various purposees.

According to her, each centre is equipped with modern digital equipment and a total of 218 schools had been  equipped in the 36 states and the  FCT, Abuja.

“Each centre is equipped with 25 desktop computers,  desktop tables and chairs, a projector, magnetic white board for learning, WiFi route multi-SIM and elegoo robotics set,” she said.

Umar-Farouq said that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was committed  to the development of young people in digital economy, which the STEM project is  targeting.

In his remarks, Gov Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for creating the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, which initiated the National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP).

Ganduje, represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Usman Alhaji, called on the National Assembly to make a legislation that would enable the ministry to continue with such laudable projects after the expiration of the tenure of President Buhari.

He urged the authorities of the benefiting schools to make good use of the equipment.

Also speaking, the Commissioner for Education, Mr Sanusi Saidu-Kiru, assured the government that the  benefiting schools would make the  best use of the facilities.

He said that  11 schools in the state benefited from the project.

Saidu-Kiru also said that  1.2 million pupils were currently benefiting from the school feeding programme initiated by the ministry.

He added that over 12,000 women were employed as food vendors.