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.

He, however, disclosed that in addition to efforts of the
Federal Government to address the challenge, the World Bank had
proposed to release N600 million as an intervention to assist in
addressing the out-of-school children menace in the North-East.

Bobboyi observed that his commission had committed a lot of
resources to almajiri schools, and challenged states to put the
available facilities to effective use.

He said it was unfortunate that most of the schools built for
girl-child and almajiri education were not put to use after being
handed over to the states’ Universal Basic Education Boards
(SUBEBs).

The UBEC executive secretary said the commission was finding it
difficult to explain to the National Assembly why more funds should
be appropriated to UBEC when a large chunk of the funds meant for
states were still not accessed.

The deputy governor, who received the delegation on behalf of
the governor, admitted that the state was faced with enormity of
challenges in basic education, and that the current administration
inherited a worrisome education system in the state.

Gidado, however, said the state governor was doing a lot to
improve the lot of the education sector, and that the state
government had constituted a task force to overhaul the entire
education system.

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.

He, however, disclosed that in addition to efforts of the
Federal Government to address the challenge, the World Bank had
proposed to release N600 million as an intervention to assist in
addressing the out-of-school children menace in the North-East.

Bobboyi observed that his commission had committed a lot of
resources to almajiri schools, and challenged states to put the
available facilities to effective use.

He said it was unfortunate that most of the schools built for
girl-child and almajiri education were not put to use after being
handed over to the states’ Universal Basic Education Boards
(SUBEBs).

The UBEC executive secretary said the commission was finding it
difficult to explain to the National Assembly why more funds should
be appropriated to UBEC when a large chunk of the funds meant for
states were still not accessed.

The deputy governor, who received the delegation on behalf of
the governor, admitted that the state was faced with enormity of
challenges in basic education, and that the current administration
inherited a worrisome education system in the state.

Gidado, however, said the state governor was doing a lot to
improve the lot of the education sector, and that the state
government had constituted a task force to overhaul the entire
education system.