The federal government’s plan to enroll about 15 million out-of-school children into the school system by 2027 is laudable. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria has not less than 20.3 million out-of-school children. It is estimated that one in three children in Nigeria is out of school.
This means that Nigeria has a total of 10.2 million out-of-school children at the primary school level, and 8.1 million at the junior secondary school level. One in every five out-of-school children in the world is in Nigeria. Unfortunately, over 60 of the illiterate are in the northern part of the country. No doubt, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world.
In spite of the rising number of Nigeria’s out-of-school children, a new report has shown that many states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) had been unable to access about N68 billion fund of the Universal Basic Education Commission) from 2005-2023.
According to UBEC, only seven states, Osun, Niger, Taraba, Sokoto, Enugu, Jigawa, and Ondo, have reportedly made efforts to access their allotted grant by paying their counterpart fund. So far, the seven states have lodged with the commission a total of N10.6 billion. Section 3 of the Education Reform Act mandates the states to contribute 50 percent of the total projects to be executed in the state as its commitment to the execution of the projects. Unfortunately, many states have failed in this regard. Many stakeholders have called for a review of some sections of the Education Reform Act to ensure easy access of the UBEC fund.
They have argued persuasively that the fund cannot lie idle while basic education is starved of funds in almost all the 36 states and the FCT. A whopping N68 billion will not be allowed to lie idle in banks while over 20 million Nigerian children are outside the school system. The manner of disbursing the UBEC fund must be drastically changed to ensure that states and FCT can easily access it.
The impediments associated with accessing the fund should be dismantled forthwith. The way it is now, some powerful Nigerians might be benefiting from the non-utilization of the fund. The non-utilization of the fund and the non-challant attitude of our governors to education matters is responsible for the increasing number of the nation’s out-of-school children put at over 20 million.
Perhaps the non-utilization of the fund may have informed the reported move by human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), to compel the states and the FCT to access the fund if they fail to do so by January 15, 2024. Our governors should not wait to be compelled to do what they should ordinarily do to reduce illiteracy in their states and thereby reduce the number of Nigeria’s school children who are permanently outside the classroom. Bringing the over 20 million out-of-school children inside the classroom is a commendable project that must be pursued with vigour.
It is cheering that President Bola Tinubu has expressed deep concern over the growing number of out-of-school children and he is desirous to bring into the classroom a total of 15 million of such children by 2027. The task of bringing these children into the classroom should not be heaped on the shoulders of the federal government alone. The states and the local governments must play a vital role ending the out-of-school children syndrome, particularly in the North which is said to habour over 60 per cent of these children.
Government must ensure that every Nigerian child has access to primary and secondary school education. This is where government must invest so much resources. Having every Nigerian child educated from primary school to secondary school will enhance our human capital development index. It will help reduce illiteracy, reduce poverty and insecurity. The education of every Nigerian child from primary school to secondary school must be free and compulsory. It should be considered as part of their fundamental human rights.
The national budget for education should be increased to 30 per cent to enable the government give every Nigerian child free and compulsory education up to secondary school level. This is an achievable goal which every tier of government is advised to key into. A developing nation like Nigeria should not toy with the provision of free and compulsory basic education to its children.