Out Of School Children : HOR Orders Investigation Of Funds Disbursement

By Oduyemi Odumade

The House of Representatives has ordered an investigation into the disbursement of funds meant to reduce the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.

This is to ascertain the role played by the Ministries, Departments and Agencies concerned through the Alternate School Programme, Better Education Service Delivery for All and At-Risk Children Programme.

This followed the adoption of a motion on notice by Tijani Kayode Ismail at plenary in Abuja presided over by Speaker of the House, Dr. Abbas Tajudeen.

Ismail explained that the issue of out-of-school children in Nigeria remains a persistent challenge, despite efforts from the Nigerian government, International Development Partners, and Non-governmental organizations.

He said that in 2022, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ranked Nigeria third among countries with the highest number of out-of-school children recording almost 20 million Nigerian children that are out of school.

Ismail stated further that in October 2019, the Ministry of Education confirmed that the Federal Government committed the sum of N10b for the removal of 10.2 million out-of-school children from the streets within five years by enrolling two million children annually.

On 31January 2022, he said, the Federal Government adopted the then Presidential Committee on Alternate Education report and renewed its commitment to provide educational opportunities for over 10 million out-of-school children through the Alternate School Programme (ASP) under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs with over 200 billion Naira allocated for the initiative.

According to him, the Alternate School Programme was an initiative of the Federal Government aimed at improving access to education for Nigerian children, eliminating or substantially reducing child begging, fostering tolerance, unity, and integration of all children with diverse backgrounds, reviewing and approving all work and implementation plans that enhanced effective delivery of providing alternative schooling in Nigeria.

He said a similar intervention by the World Bank, worth 750m USD was accessed and utilised within the last four years through the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) for the enrollment of out-of-school Children in Nigeria.

The Lawmaker also said that in 2021, the Federal Government introduced the At-Risk Children Programme (ARC-P), requiring hundreds of billions of Naira in expenditure.

He expressed regrets however, that despite the Federal Government’s efforts and the release of funds for the execution of the program, the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria continues to increase rapidly.

“The misuse of Alternate School Programme funds to reduce out-of-school children in Nigeria has negatively impacted these schemes, leaving many children unschooled”.

Edited By Grace Namiji