Governors Have Tied Our Hands on Out-of-School Children

The Federal Government has accused governors of delaying action on out-of-school children.

Eko Hot Blog reports that the Federal Government through the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, has expressed regret that his ministry could not completely eradicate the rising number of out-of-school children in the country after seven years as minister.

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According to the minister, state governors have been a major impediment to the education ministry’s effort to curb the issue.

He made the disclosure in his keynote address at the meeting of the National Council on Education on Thursday.

Adamu blamed the worsening situation on “state governors’ lukewarm response to the suggestion for the declaration of an emergency on education, especially at the basic education level.”

Upon assumption of office seven years ago, the minister said he wanted a declaration of emergency in basic education, but the decision could not be taken at the Federal Executive Council because he said it was state government’s responsibility.

“I said we should declare an emergency on education, especially at the lower level. A decision couldn’t be taken on this because the issue of emergency on education at the level of primary school is a state’s responsibility,” he said.

“So I was directed by the President to hand that memo into a memo for the National Economic Council which I did thinking that if the council bought into it –and the members are state governors, it would just be a nationwide issue. I had to make a presentation three times and up to this moment, emergency has not been declared.”

In 2015, Sokoto and Kaduna states declared a state of emergency on education. In February, Kogi State government also declared a state of emergency on the sector.

Adamu, therefore, called on commissioners for education present at the meeting to persuade their governors to give more priority to education at the basic education level, saying “our children are still out of schools because the resolve by the states is not as strong as that of the Federal Ministry of Education.”

He also listed his ministry’s efforts at reducing the number of out-of-school children to include the development of e-learning portal to cater for students in basic and senior secondary schools across the country, the development of Nigerian Learning Passport designed to close the learning gaps and to enable continuous access to quality education.

There were about 10.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria in 2015 when Adamu became Nigeria’s education minister, according to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).