Senate to hold national summit on out-of-school children

The Senate on Wednesday resolved to organise a national summit on the menace of out-of-school children in Nigeria.

The upper chamber made the decision after considering a report of its Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary) on the need to tackle the challenges of out-of-school children in the country.

The report was presented by its Chairperson, Usman Adamu.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio announced the decision after a majority of the senators supported it through voice votes during plenary.

The summit would involve the presidency, senators, state governors, local government chairpersons, councillors and civil society organisations.

“This issue of out-of-school children is one of the most important and a major source of insecurity in this country. 20 million children that are out of school is a time bomb for any country or anywhere experiencing banditry.

“If we can solve the problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria, over 20 million children that are out of school, those are potential bandits, major danger,” Mr Akpabio said.

Report

Mr Adamu, the senator representing Kaduna Central, said the report was sequel to a resolution of the Senate on 20 March with a view to finding a lasting solution to the increasing rate of out-of-school children.

He said members of his committee had interaction with ministers of education on 18 July over the issue.

The senator noted that, in the course of the interaction, the lawmakers observed that there is a need for the federal government to domesticate a proper strategy to address the menace of out-of-school children in the country.

Mr Adamu stated that the committee also discovered that the education ministry has not taken tangible action to reduce the increasing number of out-of-school children.

He also said there is no reliable data on out-of-school children in the country.

“No tangible action has been taken by the ministry considering the out-of-school children since 2024.

“There is no reliable data till date on the out-of-school children, this deserves urgent attention,” he added.

Debate

The immediate past Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, urged the upper chamber to compel the Federal Ministry of National Planning to come up with reliable data.

Mr Lawan, who represents Yobe North Senatorial District, advised the Senate to organise a national educational council meeting to address challenges of the nation’s education system.

Seriake Dickson (PDP, Bayelsa West) lamented the ineffectiveness of the government to promote western education.

“The crisis facing the education system is at the core of insecurity, at the core of leadership failure, and at the core of a lot of issues affecting the country.

“All of us who went to school 20 to 50 years ago, know the kind of education that was available, available for the rich as well as poor.

“We should use this opportunity, in my view, to undertake a comprehensive overview of the crisis facing our educational system,” he said.

Mr Dickson, thereafter, suggested a national summit on out-of-school children.

“My suggestion is that you should lead, you (Akpabio) should have a conversation with the president. He’s already addressing it with the student loan, but let us have a summit where the governors who are the heads of sub-region and commissioners will also be there so that we can formulate a coherent national strategy,” he added.

Adeola Olamilekan (APC, Ogun West) said successive governments have done several programmes to improve the nation’s education system but blamed state governments for not complementing the efforts.

After the debate, the Senate President put the suggestion to hold a national summit on the menace of out-of-school to vote and the majority of the senators supported it.

Mr Akpabio commended his colleagues for the extensive debate.

He said he hopes that the summit would successfully address challenges facing the educational system.