In response to the alarming statistic of 20 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, the Senate has called upon the judiciary across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory to take immediate action towards establishing mobile courts for the enforcement of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act.
During a plenary session on Wednesday, the Senate emphasised the necessity for targeted intervention programmes at all governmental levels to combat the various factors hindering free access to quality education, notably multidimensional poverty and insecurity.
Furthermore, the Senate mandated its Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary) to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Education to address the issue of out-of-school children, aiming for a significant reduction in their numbers.
In addition, the Senate urged the Ministry of Education and its affiliated agencies to devise a new strategy to effectively tackle the problem within a specified time frame of two years, as stipulated in Section 2(2) of the UBE Act.
These resolutions followed the consideration of a motion titled “Compelling Need to Tackle the Challenge of Out-of-School Children in Nigeria,” sponsored by Senator Idiat Adebule (APC, Lagos West).
Senator Adebule highlighted the severity of the issue, citing a 2022 report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which revealed that approximately 20 million Nigerian children are out of school.
She stressed the detrimental social impacts of this situation, including hindrances to achieving United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and susceptibility to recruitment into criminal activities such as banditry and terrorism.
Several senators, including Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno North), Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe North), Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North), and Simon Lalong (APC, Plateau South), emphasised education as a crucial tool for poverty alleviation and expressed concerns about the link between a lack of education and criminal recruitment.
Deputy Senate President, Senator Jibrin Barau, underscored the importance of addressing the issue collectively, particularly in Northern states where the crisis of out-of-school children is most pronounced. He highlighted the risks posed by uneducated children being vulnerable to criminal activities.
Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, lauded the Federal Government’s school feeding program as a means to incentivize school attendance.
He also recommended a policy similar to the one he introduced as Akwa Ibom State governor, which included the passage of the Child Rights Bill with provisions for free and compulsory education for all school-age children, backed by punitive measures for offenders.
