Executive secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Boboyi, has said the country needs an additional 20,000 schools and 907,769 classrooms to absorb the growing number of out-of-school children.
Bobboyi stated this in Abuja yesterday, while briefing the minister of education, Prof Tahir Mamman and the minister of state, Dr Yusuf Sununu.
According to a statement by the director of press and public relations, Ben Bem Goong, Bobboyi identified infrastructural gaps and inadequate manpower as some of the challenges facing the commission in its efforts towards ensuring equitable access to quality basic education.
Responding, Mamman said that the ministry under him would prioritise basic education in the country.
Mamman also emphasised that the foundation level was the most critical segment in the sector that must be properly developed in order to impact positively on other tiers of the sector and overall national development.
He called on all the states of the federation to show greater commitment towards providing counterpart funding to accelerate the development of basic education in the country.
The minister added that the government of President Bola Tinubu would leave no stone unturned in ensuring that every Nigerian child was brought on board the ship of education.
He also said the forthcoming national census will put paid to the controversies surrounding the actual figures of out-of-school children.
Also, Dr Sununu said all hands must be on deck to ensure that Nigerian children get the desired education to prepare them for the future.
Sununu directed the UBEC chief executive to take the struggle for counterpart funding to the door step of state governors explaining that an uneducated child is a clear danger to himself and society at large.
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