70% Out-Of-School Children Are In The North –UBEC

THE executive secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, has disclosed that 70 per cent of the 10.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria are in the northern part of Nigeria.

He lamented that despite this enormous challenge, some state governments have not shown interest in accessing the Federal Government’s matching grant to them to support the implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE).

Bobboyi spoke when he led his management team on advocacy visit to Bauchi State. The team was also in Gombe, where the UBEC executive secretary noted that the North was still backward in terms of school enrolment and retention.

In Bauchi, the team was received by the deputy governor (who also doubles as the commissioner for education), Malam Nuhu Gidado, who represented the governor.

While drawing the attention of the state governor to the challenge of out-of-school children in Nigeria, Dr Bobboyi said there was the need for UBE system managers to engage government and other key stakeholders on mechanisms for addressing the challenge, which he said was already getting out of hand.

He recalled that the issue was extensively discussed in the last Education Conference in Bangladesh where Nigeria’s continued rating in this respect became very embarrassing.

In Bauchi, the team was received by the deputy governor (who also doubles as the commissioner for education), Malam Nuhu Gidado, who represented the governor.

While drawing the attention of the state governor to the challenge of out-of-school children in Nigeria, Dr Bobboyi said there was the need for UBE system managers to engage government and other key stakeholders on mechanisms for addressing the challenge, which he said was already getting out of hand.

He recalled that the issue was extensively discussed in the last Education Conference in Bangladesh where Nigeria’s continued rating in this respect became very embarrassing.