Addressing the Crisis of Out-of-School Children in Nigeria and Analysing Government Interventions so far: Areas for Legislative Intervention
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Nigeria is faced with the crisis of out-of-school children, which have both economic and social impacts on the country. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 2024 report, Nigeria has approximately 18.3 million out-of-school children, comprising 10.2 million of primary school age and 8.1 million of secondary school age. This figure underscores the country’s significant educational challenges, positioning Nigeria with one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children globally. The Nigerian government over the years has initiated schemes and policies towards improving the education sector and reducing the number of out-of-school children through increased budget allocation to education. To ensure smooth access to higher education, the Nigerian government signed into law the Student Loan Fund in 2024. Report by the NELFUND, so far over ₦32 billion has been disbursed to students. Despite all the measures, Nigeria still ranks 191 out of 208 countries in education ranking by countries and has a 59.57% literacy rate according to Veriv Africa report, 2024. Recent data from the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that Nigeria has the largest number of out-of-school children, with Kebbi and Sokoto States topping the list across Nigerian states with 67.6% and 66.4%, respectively. Addressing the crisis of out-of-school children and to make improvements in the education sector, the brief recommends among others, the need for the Federal government to increase the budget allocation for education sector to the 15 percent recommended threshold of the GDP. This will help solve the problem of poor infrastructure and teacher/lecturers remuneration.