Photo: Speaker House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas
The House of Representatives is actively developing a framework to ensure that more than 14 million Nigerian children who are currently out of school can return to the classroom.
This initiative, led by the House Committee on Alternative Education and chaired by Rep. Almustapha Ibrahim Aliyu (APC, Sokoto), aims to not only bring these out-of-school children back to education but also provide them with relevant skills to become productive members of society.
This intervention, spearheaded by the Green Chamber and Speaker Rt. Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, Ph.D, seeks to address public education issues by tackling poverty and value gaps.
collaboration with government agencies, the initiative strives to enhance access to education for all Nigerian children, aligning with the goals of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs-4) focusing on qualitative and inclusive education for all.
This endeavor is known as the ‘Nigeria Mass Reduction of Out-of-School children and Youth Project’ (NiMPROP), with a planned duration of four years.
It aims to significantly reduce the number of out-of-school children through non-formal accelerated education systems and alternative schooling programs, as highlighted by Rep. Almustapha Aliyu.
The committee is collaborating with government bodies such as the National Commission of Almajiri and out-of-school children, the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education, and the National Commission for Nomadic Education to achieve its objectives.
Additionally, the committee is diligently working towards lifting 16.5 million Nigerians out of poverty, which will play a vital role in encouraging out-of-school children to return to education.
Rep. Aliyu mentioned that they have already engaged with relevant agencies, receiving favorable responses. They have also put the necessary mechanisms in place for the intervention, with plans to reconvene from their annual recess soon.
One of the key goals of this initiative is to significantly reduce poverty across the country’s six geopolitical zones.
Based on statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the Northeast has the highest poverty index at 71.86 percent, followed by the Northwest at 64.84 percent, and the North Central at 42.70 percent.
Other regions include the South East at 42.44%, South South at 21.28%, and South West at 12.12%. The intervention aims to reduce poverty as follows: Northeast (4 million people), North West (3.4 million people), North Central (2.5 million), South East (3 million), South South (2.1 million), and South West (1.6 million).
