The Federal Government, has disclosed that six million dollars have been released to Niger State under Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) programme to combat the menace of out-of-school children in the state.
Minister of State for Education, Hon Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, made this known, on Wednesday, during the flag-off of the BESDA programme in Minna, Niger State.
Director, Press and Public Relations, Mr Ben Bem Goong, in a statement, made available to newsmen said BESDA was aimed at assisting educationally disadvantaged states in reducing the number of out-of-school children in their respective domains.
The Minister said the Federal Government was determined to increase as well as improve access to qualitative basic education for Nigerian children, irrespective of their economic status.
With Nigeria having the highest number of out-of-school children in Sub-Saharan Africa, Nwajuiba emphasised that the government was doing all it could to rectify the situation.
Nwajuiba who revealed that Niger State is one of the worst states in the ranking of out-of-school children urged the state government to make judicious use of the six million dollars released to it by BESDA in reducing the number of out-school children to tolerable levels adding that results achieved in the first phase will determine if more intervention funds will be released to the state.
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The Minister stated that the performance requirement is not limited to Niger State but the other 16 states involved in the BESDA programme.
He, however, commended the state government on efforts being made to increase enrolment as it has successfully brought on board over 90,000 children from the estimated 292,700 out-of-school children in that state.
Admitting that the issue of out-of-school children is not the only problem bedevilling the education sector, the Minister stated that government is doing all it could to tackle the issues of infrastructural decay and deficits, poor funding,
inadequate and qualified teachers, among others.
In his remarks, Governor of Niger State, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, revealed that the state has made some progress in improving the educational standard in the state.
Bello revealed that improvement has been achieved in the areas of Almajiri education, Girl-child education, teacher professional development, rehabilitation of educational infrastructure, among others.
He averred that there was still room for improvement, especially in the area of the girl child education.
The Governor subsequently clamoured for more support in building more schools and other educational facilities to help the state improve on its standard of
education.
Speaking, BESDA Coordinator, Mrs Amina Buba Haruna revealed that BESDA, in collaboration with the National Population Commission has concluded the 2019/2020 Nigeria Education Data Survey (NEDS) in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Haruna revealed that the data generated would be used to reward states in the next round of release of funds.
The Programme Coordinator, therefore, encouraged Niger State to continue addressing the challenges of the out-of-school children and ensure that results are achieved in order to gain more funding.
Niger State is the 10th state out of the 17 participating states where the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) programme has been launched.
BESDA: Niger gets $6 million to fight out-of-school children menace