Minister: Tinubu Has Roadmap to Address Nigeria’s High Out-of-School Children

Igbawase Ukumba in Lafia

The Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Tanko Sununu, yesterday said President Bola Tinubu has initiated an agenda to remove about 20 million out-of-school children on the streets and prioritise education in Nigeria.
The minister made the disclosure at the groundbreaking foundation laying ceremony of the National Examination Council (NECO) offices held in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital.

The groundbreaking foundation laying ceremony which was held in Lafia was also simultaneously held in six other states including: Rivers, Sokoto, Abia Jigawa, Lagos and Taraba.
Addressing the stakeholders who graced the occasion, the Minister of State said President Tinubu has granted an approval to the Federal Ministry of Education for a project aimed at improving the quality of education in Nigeria.

He said that Nigeria, like other African countries, has validatory issues that are surrounded with data, as a result the Ministry of Education has decided to conduct a census that will give all data that is reliable and accurate.
According to him, “The data will include all the data of schools we have in Nigeria right from kindergarten to tertiary institutions, both private and public. We will generate data on our students’ rights also from kindergarten to tertiary level.

Sununu, therefore, noted that President Tinubu’s administration was committed to ensuring that every child in Nigeria was educated.
In his welcome remarks, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, who was represented by the Permanently Secretary of the State Ministry of Education, Muhammad Sani Bala, assured the federal government of his administration’s commitment towards quality education to citizens of the state.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Registeral/Chief Executive of the National Examination Council, Prof. Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, said since his assumption of office, he had embarked on a comprehensive assessment of NECO’s existing facilities nationwide.
He maintained that that revealed a pressing need for infrastructure upgrades, adding that many states’ offices were housed in rented apartments, often ill-equipped

Wushishi explained that the new state offices in Abia, Jigawa, Rivers, Sokoto and Taraba, along with the Nasarawa State edifice about to be erected in Lafia, would serve as beacons of excellence in administration of examinations in Nigeria.