From Paul Orude Bauchi
Stakeholders in the North East have called on the government to establish agencies for out –of – school children to tackle the high number of out OOSC in the country.
They lamented that OOSC in the country and the north east remain high despite efforts by government saying establishment of an agency is required to address the problem
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) says Nigeria’s OOS population accounts for 15% of the global total, with 66% of all OOSC are in the Northeast and Northwest.
They made this known in a communique issued at the end of the North east states strategic policy dialogue on social budgeting for the child sensitive sector in Nigeria held in Gombe.
The meeting was organized by the state governments in the region to increase budget allocation for children’s expenditure.
The communique was signed by the commissioners of the states in the region of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe.
The stakeholders drawn from the states in the region for the meeting believed such an agency or directorate would scale up functional literacy and numeracy.
It also recommended that governors should increase budgetary allocation and release annually by two per cent to the social sector to help tackle challenges of children.
