The Nigerian Senate has called for the convocation of a national summit to discuss and address the issue of out of school children in Nigeria.
This followed adoption of report of Senate Committee on Education, on the compelling need to tackle the challenge of out of school children in Nigeria.
Presenting the report at plenary, Chairman of the committee, Senator Usman Adamu(APC-Kaduna) said the committee considered the submissions of the Federal Ministry of Education on the out of school children in Nigeria.
He said there was the need to activate the road map to curtail the issue of out of school children.
Senator Adams said; “notable actions should be taken by the ministry,and that there was no accurate up to data on out of school children.”
He said the issue deserves an urgent attention because of the menace inherent in the out of school children.
According to him, “the out of school children had become a national phenomenon, given the issue of insecurity and banditry in the country.”
“There is need for a synergy among among federal, state and local governments toward tackling the issue of out of school children,” Senator Adams said.
He said the collaborative efforts of government at all levels, traditional religious, civil society organisations, and all other stake holders was needed to end the challenge of out of school children.
Contributing, Senator Ahmed Iawan (APC-Yobe), said the federal ministry of education has no policy on out of school children.
He said the National Council of Education should have a clear policy on out of school children, saying that 20 million children were out of school.
Senator Lawan also said significant funding should be provided in the 2025 budget to tackle the issue of out of school children in Nigeria.
Senator Henry Dickson (PDP-Bayelsa) said there was need to convoke a national summit on the issue of out of school children.
Senator Solomon Adeola (APC-Ogun) commended the committee for the report, saying “successive Nigerian governments have done a lot on education.”
He, however, said that the sub national state governments were yet to do much on the issue of education.
According to him, there was need to ask questions on why most state governments do not pay their counterpart funding on the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme.
President of Senate, Godswill Akpabio decried that the issue of out of school children in Nigeria was a serious matter, collaborating that 20 million children were out of school.
Senator Akpabio said efforts by all stakeholders should be made to address the issue of out of school children in Nigeria.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
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