From Victor Gai, Jalingo

The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba has revealed that Nigeria has 10.1 million out-of-school children- the highest in sub-Sahara Africa. He also added that Taraba state is one of those with the highest number of the cases in Nigeria.

The Minister made this disclosure at the flag off of Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) in Jalingo, Taraba state on Monday, with the theme: Eradicating Out of School Children Phenomenon: A Tool for the Achievement of Education 2030 Agenda.

According to the Minister, six states of the north-east, seven states of the north-west and one state from each of the other geo-political zones were targeted by the programme.

He said BESDA became effective in 2018 and that 1,455,000 children were reached in the first cohort states.

Nwajiuba while quoting from Chapter 2 of the Nigerian constitution said the “welfare and security of the people is the primary responsibility of government”.

He commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his passion for education which gave birth to BESDA.

“Anything you do, you can do it well when you have better education. No nation can rise above its level of education,” the Minister said.

Also speaking during the event, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sunday Ochonu, mentioned the target areas of BESDA to include among others: increasing equitable access to out of school children, improving literacy in the focal states, strengthening the system for accountability in the education sector.

He said the Nigeria Education Data Survey was carried out on all 36 states by BESDA and that the outcome of the exercise would be used to reward states.

Ochonu also appreciated the Taraba state governor, Darius Ishaku, for granting the request to launch BESDA in the State.

Meanwhile, the Taraba state Commissioner of Education (Primary and Secondary) Johannes Jigem, has disclosed that 13 LGAs in the state have been targeted for reduction of out-of-school children and eight others for intensive literacy programme.

Jigem made the disclosure during the flag off of BESDA in Jalingo, the Taraba state capital on Monday.

According to him, non-formal learning centres have been established with a total enrolment of 24,150 children, 650 facilitators. He added that the literacy programme include 1004 schools with a total enrolment of 64,261 students.

“With the support of both state and federal government, the trend is expected to continue on an upward trajectory,” Jigem added.

In its effort at encouraging out-of-school children to enrol in school, the commissioner revealed the efforts the government made.

“To make the programme more appealing, we have paid 350 Alaramas, made conditional cash transfers to another 12,000 and provided 650 facilitators with monthly stipend of 10,000 naira,” he stated.

Jigem then urged the federal government to release more funds to the states in order to ensure the successful implementation of BESDA.

Meanwhile, the flag off of BESDA coincides with the meeting of the National Council on Education which is due to hold in Jalingo.