Out-Of-School Crisis: UK Charity Secures Endorsements From Davido, Anthony Joshua

IA-Foundation, an educational charity in the United Kingdom, has gotten endorsements from Nigerian singer Davido and boxing great Anthony Joshua.

The announcement was made by Ibironke Adeagbo, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the foundation on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, at a pre-event news conference.

While speaking at the event, she announced plans by the foundation to stage its annual fundraising event on February 26 to give aid to hapless Nigerian children.

Adeagbo disclosed that the group chose Davido and Anthony Joshua as the faces of hope for millions of children who may have become hopeless, especially those forced out of school due to the prevalent issues of insecurity and socio-economic problems.

Davido | Photo Credit: INSTAGRAM

She revealed that former Education Minister, Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, and the American education rights campaigner, Zuriel Oduwole are also expected to add their voices to the out-of-school problem at the event scheduled to take place via Zoom.

"The education crisis in Nigeria is one that requires urgent, collective, and concrete action to surmount.

"At IA-Foundation, we do not believe that we are the solution to this problem but we believe that we are a part of the solution", Adeagbo stated.

Anthony Joshua | Photo Credit: INSTAGRAM

She added that it was untenable for Nigeria as Africa's most populous nation to continue to have 13.2 million out-of-school children, saying the narrative needed an urgent change.

Speaking further, Adeagbo mentioned that a hat donated by Joshua would be auctioned at the fundraiser as part of activities to generate funds to promote inclusion for out-of-school children in parts of the country.

"The event will give participants an opportunity to brainstorm and find ways in which we can reduce the number of out-of-school children and improve the standard of education in Nigeria", she said.

The IA-Foundation is based in London and Lagos and has been seeking ways to collaborate with the federal government to tackle critical issues affecting the educational sector in the country.

According to UNICEF, 10.5 million children are out of school in Nigeria; the highest rate in the world presently.