Presidency Moves Against Out-of-school Children Menace In Borno

Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Mrs Maryam Uwais, has said concerns about the growing number of out-of-school-children in Nigeria compelled the federal government to conceptualise and establish the At-Risk-Children Programme (ARC-P).

It’s an interventionist scheme designed to address the plight of vulnerable children and youth across all states of the federation, including the Federal Capital Territory.

Speaking yesterday during the official  flag off of a three-week training programme for over nine hundred ARC-P youth facilitators in Maiduguri, Borno State, Mrs Uwais, who is also the national lead of the programme, domiciled in the office of the Vice President, said the initiative was geared towards addressing the cross-cutting concerns of children and vulnerable youth in Nigeria, using a multi-dimensional approach covering education, health, digital and vocational skills, entrepreneurship, agriculture as well as sports and life skills.

Uwais who was represented by the deputy director, Budget and Planning,  Grace Akpabio, said the core objective of the 3-week training programme for the youth facilitators in Borno, was to prepare them for the task of providing mentorship and guidance for the primary beneficiaries of the programme.

The training, according to the presidential aide, is to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the youth facilitators in basic subject matters and life skills to be able to coach ARC-P primary beneficiaries with a view to supporting them to be reintegrated back to the communities.