Background to the Summit
On 22nd October, 2024, the Nigerian
Senate passed a resolution mandating a national summit to tackle the escalating
number of out-of-school children. This initiative responds to alarming statistics and
aims to develop comprehensive strategies to reintegrate these children into the
educational system.
Despite the coming into force of the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education
Act, 2004, which mandates that every government in Nigeria provides free and
compulsory education for all children of primary and junior secondary school age,
and the setting up of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School
Children Education (NCAOCE) which was established in 2023 following the
signing into law of the Commision’s establishment Act on 27th May, 2023 by the
erstwhile president, an alarming figure of 20 million Nigerian children remain out
of school, according to UNESCO report.
Though the UNESCO figure has for years been a subject of controversy, especially
given the lack of accuracy of municipal or home-grown data to that effect, the figure,
if anything to go by, is troubling and poses a grave threat to national stability, social
cohesion, and the future of Nigeria's youth.
Despite the criminalization of the practice of not educating children who are of
school age by the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act, 2004, the
Nigerian society still reeks of a galloping rate of the social menace of out-of school
children, literally contributing about 8.2% of the 244 million global out-of-school
children figure. We are indeed at a tipping point!
Specifically, Section 2 of the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act,
2004 provides as follows:
2(1) Every Government in Nigeria shall provide free, compulsory and universal
basic education for every child of primary and junior secondary school age.
The section goes further in paragraph 2 to state as follows
(2) Every parent shall ensure that his child or ward attends and completes his -
(a) primary school education; and (b) junior secondary school education, by
endeavouring to send the child to primary and junior secondary schools.
The same Section 2 goes further in Paragraph 4 therein of the same Act to stipulate
that it is a crime for any parent not to send a child of primary and junior secondary
school age to school. The paragraph did not just stop at that, it went further to
prescribe punishment for such offence.
Notwithstanding the above provisions, the staggering daily increase in the number
of out-of-school children in Nigeria continues unabated. The issue has become a
breeding ground for numerous social challenges, including terrorism, youth
unemployment, violent separatist movements, kidnapping, and other forms of
banditry.
As earlier stated, the Nigerian Senate’s recent resolution, passed in late October,
2024, after a rigorous debate on a moving motion sponsored by Distinguished
Senator Lawal Adamu Usman, Chairman, Senate Committee on Basic and
Secondary Education, to hold a national summit on out-of-school children therefore
highlights the nation’s commitment to addressing this sprawling social menace
It is against the above background that the idea of the Summit is conceived as an
interventionist action on the ugly situation, and it is hoped that the national summit
will birth the National Emergency Fund on Out-of-School Children which will help
in providing funding gap in tackling the lingering social issue of out-of-school
children in Nigeria.
Our mission is to eradicate the out-of-school children crisis in Nigeria by mobilizing resources, fostering partnerships, and implementing sustainable educational programs.
Organizers
The Nigerian Senate in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education, and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC)
