Senate seeks national summit over out-of-school-children

The Senate has called for a national summit after briefings with President Bola Tinubu in an attempt to resolve the syndrome of out-of-school-children in Nigeria.

This resolution was taken during plenary after the submission of the report of the Committee on Education (Basic & Secondary) on the compelling need to tackle the challenge of out-of-school-children in the country.

The chairman of the committee, Senator Usman Lawal Adamu (Kaduna Central) disclosed that over two million out-of-school-children have been enrolled in the last one year through the collective efforts of the agencies of the ministry working on out-of-school-children education.

In a debate by more than 20 lawmakers, the out-of-school-children menace was identified as a time bomb, demanding solutions that transcends that of the Federal Government alone.

While some lawmakers demanded a proper handshake between the national and sub-nationals, particularly on the issue of access of the UBEC funds, others raised the idea that significant funds from the 2025 budget be allocated for the sole purpose of tackling the out-of-school challenge.

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The Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said out-of-school-children have become potential bandits, exacerbating the need to curb the crisis.

The Senate unanimously adopted the resolution for a national summit.