TheCable

Aminu Tambuwal, governor of Sokoto, says his administration has reduced the number of out-of-school children in the state by half within the last two years.

Muhammad Bello, the governor’s media aide, released a statement to this effect on Wednesday.

Tambuwal was said to have made the comment while speaking at a one-day basic education development dialogue in the Kasarawa area of the state.

Tambuwal said his “administration’s declaration of emergency in the education sector at its inception and the conscientious work of the consultative committee led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has started yielding results as the number of OOSC, which between 2019/2020 was about 1.2 million, is now about 572,000”.

He added that “over 600,000 children are now enrolled in schools”.

”We must ensure that every child in Sokoto state goes back to school, is enrolled, enlisted and remain in school until the completion of his education,” Tambuwal added.

According to UNICEF, one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria.

With 13.2 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, the northern part of the country accounts for more than half of the number, and Sokoto is among the states with the lowest enrolments.

The governor also spoke on how the security situation of the state affects education.

“We are battling the challenges of insecurity and so many others. Without qualitative education, we cannot overcome them,” he added.