Out-of-school children in northern Nigeria ‘frightening’ – Shettima

Vice President Kashim Shettima on Thursday described the number of out-of-school children in northern Nigeria as ‘frightening’, harping on the urgency for specific actions to prioritize education, especially of the girl child.

Vice President Shettima who decried the situation, backed his assertion with data that he reeled out at the inaugural International Conference on Girl Child Education in Nigeria held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

This is as the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) identified practices such as early marriage, early childbearing, poverty, illiteracy, gender-based violence, and other forms of discrimination as factors that have continued to violate girls’ rights to education in the country.

Vice President Shettima reiterated the need for concerted efforts towards addressing the issues of education, particularly in northern Nigeria.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be held hostage by these frightening numbers as the consequences are dire and far reaching. Now is the time to treat them as an emergency, and the only way forward is to take specific action plans that address the unique needs and barriers in each region,” Vice President Shettima declared at the event attended by development partners including the World bank, UNICEF, British Council, Oando Foundation, UNESCO, FCDO, Newglobe, Plateform Petroleum.

According to him, “states in the north west and north east face the highest out of school rates in Kebbi, Zamfara, and Bauchi for example, more than 60% of primary school age children are not in school with Kebbi at a staggering 64.8%.

“The secondary school numbers are similarly alarming with Bauchi at 66.75% Kebbi at 63.8% and Jigawa, which is my own state, at 62.6%.”

Represented at the event by the Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Hadejia, Vice President Shettima said “this is a mirror from which we cannot afford to look away because the consequences are dire and far-reaching.

Senator Shettima noted that the dignity of the girl child defines every civilization, and “today, we are bound by a duty higher than merely observing the challenges before us.

“We bear the responsibility of setting the tone for this nation, and there is no greater calling than to prioritize the education of the girl child and others. This is a mirror from which we cannot afford to look away because the consequences are dire and far-reaching.

“The statistics of our out-of-school children in Nigeria are a stark reminder of the urgency of this mission. The latest multiple indicator cluster survey showed that 25.6% of children of primary school age are out of school, and this rate rises to 29.6% for secondary school age children, each child, abandoned to the streets, is a liability that the nation will one day pay for.

“We must therefore remember that the child who remains out of school today will be a threat to their peer in the classroom tomorrow, and we cannot afford to turn away from this reality, and the need for creative and innovative solutions is now more present than ever.”

“The issue of girl child education is for every nation, but in our part of the world, her vulnerability is especially pronounced. Her education is more than a moral obligation.

“It is the stabilizing force of our economic and social order, for every additional year a girl remains in school, her future earning potential increases, infant mortality rates decrease, and poverty levels in communities fail.

“We see this reflected in the gender parity index, which shows that girls have almost caught up with boys at the primary school level with a ratio of 0.99 and even surpassed boys at secondary school level with a ratio of 1.08.

“These gains are, however, at risk unless we intensify our interventions to reach every girl, particularly in areas where barriers remain strongest.

“This is why, at the National Economic Council, we have set out to guarantee the future of a girl child, adopting education as one of our critical thematic areas of intervention, alongside health, nutrition, and employability in a rapidly changing world.

“We have set the ambitious goal of achieving 0.6 score on the World Bank’s human capital index, and we understand that the road to this objective involves increasing years of schooling, improving the quality of education, and ensuring that no child, especially no girl child, is left vulnerable or out of school.”

Vice President, however, stated that education financing remained a critical aspect of the President Bola Tinubu-led government strategy hence the country has seen a significant increase in education expenditure.