A Child Out of School Today is Serious Threat to Nation Tomorrow, Says Shettima

•NGF: Early marriage, poverty, GBV hinder girls’ education, empowerment 

•Almajiri, out-of-school children are time bomb, Abiodun warns  

•FG to launch transformative vanguard framework to provide quality education

Deji Elumoye, Chuks Okocha in Abuja and James Sowole in Abeokuta

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has stressed the urgent need for girl-child education in the country, warning that a child out of school today would become a threat to the nation tomorrow.

Shettima spoke in Abuja at the inaugural International Conference on Girl Child Education organised by the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) in collaboration with Rivers State Government, the World Bank, Platform and Federal Ministry of Education.

The conference themed “Girl Child Empowerment Through Quality Education”, was intended to address barriers such as child marriage, poverty, and gender-based violence hindering girls’ education.

Also, the Chairman of Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Governor of Kwara State, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, noted that despite recent progress, inadequate access to quality education remained a significant barrier to the girl-child, exacerbated by practices such as early marriage, poverty, and gender-based violence.

This was as the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, has said the issue of Almajiri and out-of-school children was a national challenge that needed to be addressed before it gets out of control.

Shettima, represented by Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Senator Ibrahim Hadejia, highlighted alarming statistics, noting that 25.6% of primary-age children and 29.6% of secondary school age children were out of school in Nigeria.

According to him, educating girls is vital for societal stability and economic growth.

He said, “We must therefore remember that the child who remains out of school today will be a threat to their peer in the classroom tomorrow, and we cannot afford to turn away from this reality, and the need for creative and innovative solutions is now more present than ever.

“The issue of girl-child education is for every nation, but in our part of the world, her vulnerability is especially pronounced. Her education is more than a moral obligation.

“It is the stabilising force of our economic and social order, for every additional year a girl remains in school, her future earning potential increases, infant mortality rates decrease, and poverty levels in communities fail.

“We see this reflected in the gender parity index, which shows that girls have almost caught up with boys at the primary school level with a ratio of 0.99 and even surpassed boys at secondary school level with a ratio of 1.08.

“These gains are, however, at risk unless we intensify our interventions to reach every girl, particularly in areas where barriers remain strongest.

“This is why, at the National Economic Council, we have set out to guarantee the future of a girl child, adopting education as one of our critical thematic areas of intervention, alongside health, nutrition and employability in a rapidly changing world.

“We have set the ambitious goal of achieving 0.6 score on the World Bank’s human capital index, and we understand that the road to this objective involves increasing years of schooling, improving the quality of education and ensuring that no child, especially no girl child, is left vulnerable or out of school.

“Our data further emphasises the urgency of addressing these issues, particularly in northern Nigeria. States in the north west and north east face the highest out of school rates in Kebbi, Zamfara, and Bauchi for example, more than 60% of primary school age children are not in school with Kebbi at a staggering 64.8%.

“The secondary school numbers are similarly alarming with Bauchi at 66.75% Kebbi at 63.8% and Jigawa, which is my own state, at 62.6%.”

Shettima, therefore, called for urgent action to address Nigeria’s alarming out-of-school rates, stressing that, “We cannot allow ourselves to be held hostage by these frightening numbers.”

He described the situation as an emergency, urging tailored action plans to meet the unique needs of each region.

Shettima highlighted significant increases in education funding, noting that states allocated N1 trillion in 2022, with commitments rising to N4.6 trillion by 2024.

He stressed the need for states to allocate 15-20% of their budgets to education, stating, “This is not just a target; it is a necessity for our children’s future.”

But the governors under the auspices of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum highlighted ongoing challenges hindering the empowerment of girls in the country.

AbdulRazaq emphasised the urgent need to address these issues, saying, “Practices such as early marriage and discrimination continue to violate girls’ rights to education in our communities.”

Represented by the Director General of the NGF, Abdulateef Shittu, the NGF Chairman said, “Quality education remains the cornerstone of national socio- economic development.

“Achieving this requires robust education financing, highly qualified teachers, comprehensive instructional materials, strong advocacy, and the provision of necessary infrastructure.

“Initiatives to re-enroll children in schools, improve learning outcomes, and secure adequate funding are essential to ensuring that every child receives a quality education. This conference serves as a clarion call to to take decisive action.

“Despite progress, the empowerment of the girl child is still hindered by inadequate access to quality education. Practices such as early marriage, early childbearing, poverty, illiteracy, gender-based violence, and other forms of discrimination continue to violate girls’ rights to education in our communities.

“The NGF is deeply concerned by the rising number of out-of-school children, pervasive learning poverty, and the insufficient capacity of teachers to foster empowerment through education. This conference aims to address these critical educational crises across our states.”

Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, underscored the critical importance of basic and secondary education in the country.

“When governors convene to discuss issues within their domains, they are calling for collaboration,” he said, emphasising that delivering on educational mandates was primarily the responsibility of state governors.

Mamman highlighted the Federal Ministry of Education’s role as a policymaking body, tasked with ensuring that every child has access to free and compulsory education.

“Every child, girl or boy, should be educated,” he asserted, further acknowledging the challenges faced. “As a country, we have many children, especially girls, who are out of school.”

Under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, Mamman affirmed a commitment to ensuring that no child was denied education due to lack of resources or location.

He stressed the need for quality education that prepares children for productive participation in the economy. “We must guarantee that when children go to school, they receive quality education,” he said.

Abiodun, who spoke when he received members of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children’s Education, who paid him a courtesy call at his Oke-Mosan office in Abeokuta, described the issue of Almajiri and out-of-school children in the country as a volcano waiting to erupt.

According to Abiodun, the high number of out-of-school children called for concern, as they could easily be manipulated to cause havoc in the country. “The issue of Almajiri is a national challenge. It is not a challenge for a section of this country, but a national challenge. The National Security Adviser and I sat down to discuss this issue, and we deliberated on what actionable steps can be taken that are implementable, breaking them down into immediate, medium to long-term, and sustainable steps to ensure that we collectively deal with the issue, which I described as a volcanic eruption that we can’t see now, that appears dormant, but is very viable.

“The last time we had protests, we saw an unusually high number of protests, significantly from the North. When you look at those protesters, they were Almajiri children. It was obvious that they didn’t have a clue about what they were doing.

“Some of them were carrying Russian flags, which means that they didn’t understand what that means. They were tools in the hands of manipulators, willing and ready tools in the hands of manipulators, who probably gave them a meal or something meager, and they were ready to go for it.

“This is a very sad development in the history of this nation, and this is a result of years of neglect of the situation. My position is that we can successfully tackle it. This will be one of President Bola Tinubu’s best legacies.

“It will be an enduring legacy, and I know that the president, under his Renewed Hope vision, is very passionate about ensuring that he reduces the number of Almajiri and out-of-school children to an absolute minimum.

“I assure you that, as the governor of Ogun State and the Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum (SGF), we will do our best to address this issue, even though we have a lower number of out-of-school children in the south.”

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Alternative Education, Hon. Almustapha Rabah, said Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children after Pakistan and India, urging all hands to be on deck to address the issue.

Also, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Muhammad Idris, disclosed that Nigeria had about 30 million Almajiri roaming the streets as a result of the irresponsibility of their parents.