Nigeria’s education too sensitive to be left in government’s hands—Adamu Adamu
Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu said nigeria’s education is too strategic and sensitive to be left in the hands of government. Adamu stated this while declaring open the conference on out-of-school children which held in Abuja, Monday.
Adamu who was represented by the Director of Basic Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Dr Folake Davies, called for a review of approaches to addressing the menace out-of-school children, and charged all stakeholders to contribute to repositioning basic education in the country.
“The federal government has made a significant investment in the sector and provided quality education in response to our developmental needs.
“The ministry has taken steps to strengthen inter-agencies programmes that target the out- of-school children (OSC) phenomenon. We plan for the open school programme that will help OSC to access learning opportunities.
“There is, therefore, need for all and sundry to show commitment towards the success of addressing the phenomenon for better outcomes,” he said.
All the stakeholders in the conference agreed that Nigeria needs political will, consistency in policy delivery and quality governance to tackle the phenomenon of out-of-school children.
The participants argued that there should be adequate and consistent funding and deliberate investment in basic education by all levels of government.
House Committee Chairman on education, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, identified political will, and consistency in policy delivery as major factors needed to address the out-of-school menace in Nigeria
He therefore, called on presidential candidates in the 2023 general elections to prioritise the issue of OSC and answer several questions emanating from the challenges posed by the menace.
“The challenge we see at the House of Representatives is poor leadership, lack of commitment, and poor delivery of services,” he said.
“OSC is more dangerous than banditry, and it is as if we are breeding an army of threats to the nation, so to say political leaders should take the issue as a priority is an understatement we will request that all presidential candidates should tell us what they will do with OSC problem Nigeria is facing.”
Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, identified the need for development partners to re-strategise and synergise better to work in harmony towards tackling the OSC problem.
Dr Bobboyi said for Nigeria to meet up the needs of children who trek to post-basic schools across the nation, Nigeria needs a total of 20,000 junior secondary schools, which he said must be within trekkable distance of maximum of 3km.
“There is a need to plan together and ensure that resources are judiciously utilised to have collective results.
“We must also take full responsibility for our actions or lack of them and be able to receive enlightenment on education and society and enlighten our communities the truth about lifestyle which encourages child neglect and out of school phenomenon,” he said.
He tasked stakeholders to take responsibility for addressing the issue of the enlargement of communities while the government and other partners revamp the basic education sub-sector.
UNICEF Nigeria Chief Education Saadhna Panday acknowledged that the world is facing an unprecedented out of school children crisis.
She said, “Twenty five million children are out of school globally with a chunk of them in Africa and South Asia, this is majorly caused by COVID-19, schools were closed intermittently, and this affected all schools across the globe.”
Panday identified the economic status and location of schools as major challenges hindering the enrolment of children in schools, but acknowledged that Nigeria had recorded major progress in the enrollment of girls into school.
She further said aside COVID-19, added that poverty is a major force pulling children children out of school in Nigeria.