TheCable

Bukola Saraki, senate president, has described as “alarming and a ticking time bomb” the no fewer than 10.5 million children in the country believed to be out of school.

He was reacting to the statistics on out-of-school children released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in a statement by his chief press secretary, Sanni Onogu, on Sunday in Abuja.

Saraki, who spoke when he received a UNICEF delegation, led by Mohammed Fall, its country representative, said that the situation called for urgent attention by relevant stakeholders.

He lamented that Nigeria had the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, adding that the statistics represented approximately 20 per cent of the world’s population of such children.

He said “an uneducated population will be locked in a cycle of poverty for their entire lives.

“Additionally, these children could constitute the next generation of suicide bombers and militants. In this regard, education is a national security priority.”

He expressed the national assembly’s commitment to partnering stakeholders like UNICEF, to drastically reduce the number.

He said that the 8th assembly was determined to make laws needed to drastically address the menace.

“The legislature is committed to doing all it can to address the issue of out-of-school children through funding and material resources,” he said.

“The senate is already working with a few state governments which are yet to domesticate the Child’s Rights Act.

“We are determined to also improve on this and to work together to see how best to reduce drastically the level of illiteracy among our people, especially from the preliminary stage.

“The quality of our education must be in line with global best practices. We will continue to work closely with you to support your programmes.

“We plan to have an inclusive roundtable where the impediments in our education system will be identified and a plan of action designed to eliminate them.

“I am confident that your contributions at that stage will be very useful.”

Saraki endorsed the school enrollment campaign of UNICEF in the country and thanked its country representative for their years of exemplary work in education and other areas.