Ogun Assembly, UNICEF partner on tackling out-of-school children menace

The Ogun State House of Assembly and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have joined forces to address the growing rate of out-of-school children in the state.

The partnership is marked to reduce the 43.3% of out-of-school children in Ogun State, which is the highest in the Southwest region.

The UNICEF Chief of Lagos Field Office, Mrs. Celine Lafoucriere, and her team paid an advocacy visit to the state legislators on Thursday, where they signed a certificate of commitment to reducing out-of-school children in the state.

Lafoucriere explained that the team was ready to partner with the assembly members to address the menace, which is a major concern to the international body.

According to the UBEC national audit, there are 10.2 million out-of-school children at the primary level and 8.1 million at the junior secondary level in Nigeria. Lafoucriere pointed out that one in four Nigerian children (25.3 percent) do not attend school, making Nigeria’s out-of-school population 15 percent of the world’s total.

The Team Lead, UNICEF Education Specialist, Azuka Menkiti, revealed that Ogun State has the highest rate of out-of-school children in the Southwest region, with 10.3% at the primary level, 12.1 percent at the junior secondary level, and 20.9 percent at the upper secondary level.

Menkiti identified poverty as the biggest barrier to school access, exacerbated by school fees and other costs of education.

The Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Oludaisi Elemide, agreed that there was an urgent need for the state to take steps to address the problem of out-of-school children.

Elemide promised effective collaboration with UNICEF to restore the glory of education in the state.