Senate Demands Action On 20m Out-of-school Children

Worried by the growing number of out-of-school children in Nigeria and the menacing vices of the situation in the country, the Senate had resolved to help tackle the problem headlong.

This was as the deputy president of the Senate, Jibrin Barau, stressed that out of school children are willing tools for terrorism, banditry, kidnapping and other violent crimes in the society.

Consequently, the apex legislative Assembly mandated its Committees on Education (Basic & Secondary) to engage the Federal Ministry of Education, paying special attention to the issue of Out of School Children, with the ultimate objective of drastically reducing the number.

The Senate made the resolution, following a motion by Senator Adebule, Idiat Oluranti (APC, Lagos West), titled: „Compelling need to tackle the challenge of out of school children in Nigeria.“

The Upper Chamber also urged the Ministry of Education, its related parastatals and agencies such as the Universal Basie Education stakeholders including non-governmental organisations to severally and jointly bring up new strategy to effectively deal with Out of School Children problem as well as rekindle the national consciousness through sensitization and advocacy on the importance of education to the growth and development of our country and the benefits of having majority educated population.

The Red Chamber also urged the Ministry of Education and relevant agencies to set a time limit of two years for the diligent implementation of the UBE Act as stipulated in section 2 (2).

It also urged governments at all levels to implement targeted intervention programmes that will address all the factors militating against free access to quality and basic education particularly, multidimensional poverty and insecurity.

The lawmakers equally urged the Judiciary in the 36 States of the Federation to take steps towards setting up mobile courts for the enforcement of the UBE ACT.

Presenting the motion, Senator Adebule, noted that the issue of out of school children had become worrisome, given the 2022 report of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

According to her, the report revealed that about 20 million Nigerian children were out of school, which represents ten percent of the estimated Nigerian population of 200 million people and also represents the highest number of Out of School Children from any country.