By Angela Atabo
FlexiSAF Foundation and its partners have called on Federal and state governments, political parties and candidates to prioritise increased education budget to tackle out-of-school children menace.
Ms Amina Abubakar, Executive Director, FlexiSAF Foundation, made the call in Abuja at the Walk for Education 2.0 organised by the foundation to commemorate the World Human Rights Day.
According to Abubakar, the foundation is among the group of more than 100 civil society organisations calling on the government to do something right now about education.
“We are not happy with the current budget for education, neither are we happy with the implementation of policies that are coming in.
“We are also not happy with the incoming leaders because their manifestos are not speaking to the priorities we want to see in the education sector.
“If education is not prioritized, then we will continue to see more and more crisis, banditry, kidnapping and so on and then the schools will not be safe.
“See how much attention and money is going into politics, if the same amount of money and attention is given to education,we believe we won’t have to spend a lot on defense and others.’’
Abubakar said the education walk was organised with the hashtag “Let me thrive ‘’to speak to a lot of crises Nigeria is facing especially in the education sector.
She said many children are out of school more than 18 million children and the strikes in tertiary institutions had remained incessant.
She said the walk was therefore, organised to sensitise citizens to call on the government to prioritise education because the more it is done together, the more attention it would generate.
Abubakar said FlexiSAF foundation has been working to take out of school children back to school through its numerous programmes and the walk was also an opportunity to showcase the progress such children have made.
Ms Sadiya Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, called for the need to tackle the menace of out-of-School children collectively because it would pose a future challenge to the nation.
Farouq represented by Dr Umar Bindir, National Coordinator, National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), said the ministry has done a lot of work around helping vulnerable children and it is committed to partnering with organisations to tackle the challenge.
Ms Fatima Askira, Country Lead Malala Fund and a partner of FlexiSAF Foundation, the state of education is not looking good because out-of-school children was on the increase.
“So we are trying to moblise and see how we can demand our government to ensure that education is prioritised ,we are also demanding from the candidates of the next administration to focus on education.
“Doing it alone will not make a lot of difference than when we come collectively as partners ,colleagues and individuals to give our contributions to the movement .’’
Askira said there was need to look inwards within the manifestos of political parties and candidates that have eyes for education and make a wise decision for the future.
Mr Laban Onisimus, Head, Social Development Programme, Plan International, said education is a right and not a privilege, so there was need to be strategic in the approach to handling out-of-school children.
“Whosoever is coming in to take the mantle of leadership in this country in 2023 must ensure that education is prioritised, in terms of financing.
“So we are looking at the size of the budget being increased, we are looking at the scrutiny that would be involved and its sensitivity of the budget.
“ Addressing out-of-school children should take a multispectral approach, so it’s not just education, we are also looking at the issue of protection, water and sanitation facilities within the school.’’(NAN)(nannews.ng)