Former Kwara State governorship aspirant, Pastor Sunday Adebayo Babalola, has commended President Bola Tinubu for pledging to address the high number of out-of-school children in Nigeria, even as he urged Nigerians, corporations and individuals, to join in the effort to end the menace in the country.
Tinubu had, during a dialogue with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palais des Élysées, promised to tackle the trend, according to a statement by the presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga.
In a report in September 2022 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), there were 20 million out-of-school children in Nigeria.
Babalola spoke shortly after he received an award as ‘The Outstanding Philanthropist 2024’ from The Progressive Magazine in Abuja.
He said all tiers of government, corporate organisations, donor agencies and other philanthropists should be committed to reducing the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.
He noted that the menace posed security and developmental challenges.
The expert urged the Federal Government, National Assembly, 36 states, and the Federal Capital Territory, as well as the 774 council areas in the country to make more funds available for the education sector.
“I particularly call on the National Assembly to ensure that sufficient budgetary allocation is accorded to the education sector in the N47.9 trillion budget of the Federal Government for 2025,” he said.
The Editor-In-Chief of The Progressive Magazine, Idris Jibril, called for the reawakening of reading culture among Nigerian youths.
He stated that reading was essential for societal development.
His words: “If we look clearly at our demography in Nigeria, our median age is roughly 17. We are a young population. Most of these young populations are GenZ. They do not read papers. They read from their phones. How do we bring these people on board to read? That is what started the online platform where we dish out news that will be appealing to this particular generation.”
