Nigeria has emerged as the leading country globally with the highest number of out of school children with 13 million children roaming the country’s streets daily, according to a United Nations, UN, report.
Bauchi State accounts for the highest number of out school children in Nigeria with over a million out of school children in the state despite massive renovation of existing schools and construction of new ones by the state government.
Dr Umar Buba Bindiri, National Social Investment Programme said the Federal Government is rattled by these bogus statistics, adding that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management deployed modalities to trace the exact number of children in the country not attending any formal education institution.
He said, “without further delay, we will swing into action on the heel of a presidential directive to assess the number of out of school children in Nigeria and enrol them into schools.
Dr Bindir said the problem is not just confined to the Northern part of the country alone but Nigeria as a whole.
“The National Bureau of Statistics is taking records of out of school children. We will collect the data gathered at the end of every two months to enrol the children into public schools.”
He said plans are underway to support parents and guardians of the affected children with cash and food incentives to motivate them to take their children to school.
