Gov Alia Honoured, To Tackle Out-of-School Children Menace

By Hamidat Yahaya and Goodness Adeagbo, Abuja

Governor of Benue State Rev Hyacinth Iormem Alia, has launched a project tagged “Building Rights to Access and Compulsory Education for Un-enrolled Pupils (BRACE-UP) to tackle out-of-school children.

This came as the National Union of Teachers (NUT), led by the national president, Comrade Audu Amba, presented a Golden Award for Education and Teacher Friendliness to the governor in recognition of his efforts towards revitalising basic education in the state.

The event held at the Moses Orshio Adasu University College of Health Sciences Auditorium Makurdi, Benue State, during the maiden edition of the Benue State Basic Education Summit, was organised by Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) in collaboration with Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), National Commission for Almajiri and Out- of- School Children Education (NCAOOSCE) and Universal Learning Solutions (ULS).

Alia stated that the BRACE-UP Project aims to ensure that no Benue child of school age is left at home. He also promised his administration’s full support for the growth of education in Benue State.

He noted that since his assumption of office, his administration had constructed and rehabilitated over 400 classrooms, 36 libraries, 200 digital library equipment, 758 non-digital library furniture, provided teaching and learning materials, with the support of UBEC, recruited and deployed over 9,000 teachers, ensured consistent payment of salaries and implemented a harmonised retirement age for teachers.

Earlier at the summit, the governor inaugurated student marshals across the 23 LGEAs. They are to monitor Out-of-School Children (OOSC) in their localities.

A former governor of the state, Senator Gabriel Suswam, who was the chairman of the occasion, commended Alia for improving basic education in the state.

The executive chairman of Benue SUBEB, Dr Grace Adagba, presented Governor Alia’s scorecard in basic education.

Adagba said the governor’s achievements in the education sector were anchored in the three National UBE priority pillars—access, quality and system optimisation—which aligned with the state’s development agenda.

The executive secretary of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education (NCAOOSCE), Dr Mohammad Sani, handed over the database of out-of-school children for Benue State, totalling 16,310, while stating the national figure to be 700,000.

Immediately, the state government provided school uniforms and enrolled 500 of the children in schools.

The managing director of Fidelity Bank, Onyeka Ibe, donated 500 solar school bags to the state government. UNICEF also donated 2,000 exercise books, while Universal Learning Solutions (ULS) donated literacy materials.

The Tor Tiv, Orchivirigh, Prof. James Ortese Ayatse, and others, in their separate speeches, called for support for the traditional institution in eradicating OOSC in Benue.