The prevalence of out-of-school children in Nigeria has become a national embarrassment. It is unconscionable that governments at subnational level including states with huge numbers of out-of-school children would appear nonchalant about changing the narrative. The scourge of out-of-school children imperils the future of the country with the potential of worsening the scale of multi-dimensional poverty. Time is indeed running out and leaders across tiers of governance must demonstrate commitment to addressing the scourge of out-of-school children with the seriousness it deserves.

Failure by some states to utilise the opportunity of counterpart funding to address the situation as required under the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) typifies misplaced priority by political leadership. While the urgency of addressing the challenge of out-of-school children requires much more than the N68 billion lifeline under UBEC, the failure of some states to provide matching grants to access the fund to demonstrate resolve to reversing the ugly trend is inexcusable and should not be tolerated any further. Human Rights lawyer and activist, Mr. Femi Falana has threatened legal action over continued refusal of some state governments to provide the requisite matching grant for accessing UBEC funds. We consider it a matter of prime responsibility for states to mobilise adequate resources to meet the obligation of making basic education accessible. There could be no justifiable reason for the tardiness by states to utilise the opportunity provided through the UBEC fund.

Basic education in Nigeria should be deemed the bedrock of social security and national stability considering that the country is already faced with a daunting, multi-faceted crisis amidst the conundrum of a growing population that could best be described as a timebomb. A 2022 report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) indicated that the numbers of children not enrolled in school across the country were more than 20 million. The report ranks Nigeria in the league of India and Pakistan as countries constituting significant numbers to the over 200 million global population of out-of-school children. It is recalled that the immediate past Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu had differed with the statistics of UNESCO, insisting that Nigeria only accounts for 12.4 per cent of the estimated 62 million out-of-school children in sub-Saharan Africa.

Notwithstanding, it is worrisome that some state governments appear not to be doing enough to reverse the trend despite the provisions of National Policy on Education the Child Rights Act (2003) that places the responsibility of keeping Nigerian children in schools on the shoulders of government and relevant agencies. There should be no excuse for state governments to default in their utmost responsibility of ensuring that all children are kept in schools to make acquisition of basic education a leveller between the rich and the poor in Nigeria.

Provision of required matching grants as major eligibility criteria for accessing UBEC funds should be of utmost priority if there is genuine desire to reduce the number of out-of-school children. Securing children’s right to education is critical to fulfilling obligations to the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child to which no fewer than 24 of the 36 states in Nigeria have adopted following the enactment of the Child Right Act in 2003. A critical component of the rights of Nigerian children, which is in conformity with global expectation, is for the state to ensure unhindered access to free, compulsory and functional primary education. When the government fails to mobilise adequate resources to make primary education not only compulsory but attractive, a crime is unwittingly being committed against the society and humanity. A child denied the right to basic education has been subjected to discrimination of a lifetime which reflects negatively in ramified consequences that include lack of confidence, low esteem, social disempowerment and more importantly inability to communicate and express opinion all of which foretell grave danger to the immediate community and the society at large.

A huge population of out-of-school children portends dire consequences for the society; more so inconceivable in the 21st century where daily life is becoming inexorably tied to basic knowledge of reading and writing. To this extent, to deny one child the right to basic education should be deemed a crime against humanity. Keeping a large population of children out of school is therefore a sure recipe for social instability and the attendant risks which could be fatal in a country like Nigeria with a population projected to be more than 200 million. The Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) owes the country explanation over the complicity of its members whose states are yet to take advantage of the counterpart funding under the UBEC despite N68 billion available for access as of December 11, 2023. Nigerians demand accountability from leaders whose primary responsibility is to deploy governance to ensure access to education for children who are the future of the country.