Adamu tasks successor on further reduction of out-of-school children

The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, on Tuesday, charged his successor in the ministry to work toward further reduction of the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.

Adamu gave the charge during a Valedictory Ministerial Briefing, covering his stewardship in the last four years.

He said that Nigeria had the largest number of out-of-school children in sub-Saharan Africa and ranked only second to Pakistan globally.

According to him, the present administration is looking for an empirical means of getting the actual figures and best ways of reducing the number to the barest minimum.

“When I came on board, I promised to bring the number of out-of-school children to half.

“I must apologise for this, but I believe the new minister will bring this number down,” the minister said.

Adamu said lack of genuine data was a major challenge in planning for the out-of-school children estimated at 10,193,918 nationwide.

“The Universal Basic Education Commission and other stakeholders, including National Population Commission and National Bureau of Statistics, have been working toward this common goal of determining the number of children of school age who are not in school.”

According to him, the present administration’s school feeding programme has also led to unprecedented increase in school enrolment.

“By the time we complete this year’s school census, the number of out-of-school children would have dropped significantly”.

Adamu identified insurgency as the greatest challenge of out-of-school phenomenon, adding that over 2,295 teachers had been killed and 19,000 of them were displaced in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in the last nine years.

The minister noted that 1,500 schools had been destroyed since 2014, with over 1,280 casualties among whom were teachers and students.

“The crisis has further devastated the education system as children, teachers and schools are in the frontline of the conflict,” he said.

According to him, the collaboration is between the Nigerian Government, UNESCO, UNICEF, NGOs, state Directors of Policy, Research and Statistics in the six geopolitical zones of the federation.

“The policy will also promote a learning environment where children are respected, protected and empowered.”

He said that under President Buhari’s administration, over 50,000 illiterates can now read and write.

Adamu, however, lamented that the achievement was far from the government’s target of taking two million illiterates off the list.

He noted that N1.338 trillion had been invested in the country’s education sector in the last four years.

“The UBEC interventions in states have recorded a total of N350 billion, while TETFUND and NEEDS Assessment interventions have recorded N857 billion, with the main Ministry and other Agencies recording N86 billion, totalling N1.338 trillion.

Earlier, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said that testimonies of industrial harmony in the Ministry of Education in the last four years attested to the capacity, accountability, good stewardship of Adamu Adamu.

He noted that the capacity of Adamu would still be useful to the country for effective development.