Following Atiku’s Criticism, FG Announces Collation Of Out-Of-School Children In Nigeria

The Federal Government on Tuesday announced that it had begun the collation of data of all out-of-school children across the country.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, disclosed that the exercise was being supervised by the National Steering Committee on Alternate School Programme.

The Minister said this in Abuja during the second meeting of the committee which was held at the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.

The announcement comes two days after a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, called out the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure that all children of school age were encouraged to be in school by paying parents earning less than $800 per annum a monthly stipend of N5,000.

“If we can get the 13.5 million out-of-school Nigerian children into school, we will turn the corner in one generation,” the former Presidential aspirant of the People’s Democratic Party said.

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Atiku in a statement titled, “World’s Highest Unemployment Rate: Time To Help This Government, Help Nigeria,” commented on poverty, out-of-school children and unemployment, adding that if these three problems were not tackled on time, they could push the country into a failed state.

He said, “In a situation where we are simultaneously the world headquarters for extreme poverty, the world capital for out-of-school children, and the nation with the highest unemployment rate on earth, there is a very real and present danger that we might slip into the failed states index – God forbid!”

But contrary to Atiku’s claim that Nigeria has 13.5 million out-of-school children, Farouq said about 12 million children were currently out-of-school in Nigeria. She gave figures with reference to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

The Minister said, “This committee will work with the statistics made available by the NBS to engage these out of school children.

“The alternate school programme possesses the potential for every child to gain access to quality education, irrespective of social, cultural or economic standing.

“It will also provide a means of improving household incomes for their respective families through the Federal Government’s social investment programmes.”

She then explained that the committee had worked closely with the Federal Ministry of Education and other ministries to refine the concept of the alternate school programme.