Falana to FG, State govts, LGs: Ensure immediate registration of 20.2m out-of-school children in schools

“As a matter of urgency, we call on the Federal Government, State Governments, and the 774 Local Governments to adopt remedial measures to ensure the immediate registration of the 20.2 million out-of-school children in schools”.

The above statement was made by a human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, on Thursday.

In his statement titled: ‘Refusal of state governments to access N68bn to educate 20.2 million children’, The Chairman Alliance on Surviving Covid 19 and Beyond (ASCAB), frowned at therate of out-of-school children in the country, noting that since “state governments have failed to comply with section 3 of the Education Reforms Act which mandates them to contribute half (50%) of the total cost of projects to be executed in the State as its own commitment in the execution of the projects, we are compelled to call on the UBEC to disburse the fund directly”.

Read the full statement below:

REFUSAL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS TO ACCESS N68 BILLION TO EDUCATE 20.2 MILLION CHILDREN

In early 2023, the United Nations Children Emergency Fund estimated the total number of out-of-school children in Nigeria to be 20.2 million.The report disclosed that one in three children in Nigeria is out of school, totalling 10.2 million at the primary level, and 8.1 million at the junior secondary school level. It said one in every five out-of-school children in the world is in Nigeria. Over 60 per cent of the illiterate are in the North. The report has confirmed that Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world.

Disturbed by the figure of out-of-school children, we requested the Universal Basic Education Commission to furnish us with information on access to UBEC fund by the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory In its prompt reply to our letter, the UBEC disclosed that the total unaccessed matching grant from all states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory stood at N68, 737, 873, 073. 52 as of 11th December 2023. The letter of the UBEC dated 11th December 2023 is hereby attached for y

In view of the fact that state governments have failed to comply with section 3 of the Education Reforms Act which mandates them to contribute half (50%) of the total cost of projects to be executed in the State as its own commitment in the execution of the projects, we are compelled to call on the UBEC to disburse the fund directly.

This call is in line with the combined effect of sections 12 and 17 which have saddled the Commission with the responsibility to ensure effective implementation, evaluation and monitoring of the Universal Basic Education programme of the Federal Government and help teachers, schools managers and other stakeholders in Basic and Secondary Education institutions in Nigeria to identify areas of deficiencies in achieving curriculum goals and help to remedy these deficiencies.

As a matter of urgency, we call on the Federal Government, State Governments, and the 774 Local Governments to adopt remedial measures to ensure the immediate registration of the 20.2 million out-of-school children in schools. If the said sum of N68 billion unmatched grant is not accessed by the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital Territory before January 15, 2024, we shall seek an order of mandamus to compel them to do so forthwith..