The British charity, IA-Foundation, has urged Nigeria’s President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to take urgent steps to tackle Nigeria’s out-of-school crisis, to restore hope to some 20.2 million out-of-school kids in the country.
The founder and Chief Executive Officer of IA-Foundation, Mrs Ibironke Adeagbo made the appeal in a letter to the President-elect on Wednesday.
IA-Foundation, which is active in Nigeria is a British-registered charity, working assiduously for the past four years to tackle the out-of-school crisis in Africa’s most populous nation.
Adeagbo advised the in-coming administration to hit the ground running in tackling basic problems that had made millions of Nigerian children to stay out of school.
According to her, basic education is believed to be free in Nigeria, but the entry barriers or registration fees and other payments required before enrollment have made many indigent families to keep their children at home.
Adeagbo therefore pleaded with the president-elect to partner civil society and development agencies to accelerate development in the West African country.
She stated that IA-Foundation had been able to put over 100 children back to school in nine states, which include Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Delta, Nasarawa, Kwara and the Federal Capital Territory. She however admitted that that feat is like a drop into the ocean.
On Sept. 7, 2022, the Federal Government faulted the report by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), in which it claimed that the number of out-of-school children had risen to little above 20 million.
According to the federal government, the statistics does not reflect the true state of affairs in Nigeria, particularly in the subject matter of out-of-school children.
