By Ben Ogbemudia
Chief Taiwo Akerele, Country Representatives, policy house international and FCT chapter chairman, Association of Nigerian Authors (A.N.A) has called on the Nigeria government to accelerate its efforts in providing adequate security for schools especially in Northern Nigeria to halt the ravaging activities of bandits and kidnappers of school children in the region.
In his message to mark this year alone over 2,000 school pupils have been kidnapped and some never came back alive. As we mark year International Literacy day said in 2021 only more schools are been shut down on a daily basis in the Northwestern part of Nigeria leading to many pupils staying at home for several months without any hope of resuming soon.
This he said is heartbreaking for the future of the country.
According to the former Chief of staff to Edo State Governor, “We believe there is more to do to ensure Nigeria regains its lead in the educational sector across the region by bridging the digital divide and reducing the gap between the educationally disadvantaged and the underserved.
” Policy House International is worried about the deteriorating situation and we believe that the various initiatives of government especially the presidential alternative school program earlier launched in January 2021 can be accelerated to achieve its desired objectives within a very short time.
“Today, the 8th of September 2021 is declared by the UNESCO as the international literacy day across the world with the theme: literacy for a human-centered development: narrowing the digital divide.
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“With an estimated 700 million persons not formally educated accounting for 10% of world population the world is not completely in safe hands.
” In Nigeria and other parts of Africa, the situation is worse. The UNICEF in 2019 estimated that there are over 10.5 million kids out of school accounting for 5% of our population, policy house estimates (conservatively) another 20m informally educated adults across the country accounting for another 10% of our population this is not encouraging for Africa’s largest economy.
“Following this, therefore, we believe that there is a need for a concerted effort by government and all stakeholders to focus more on investment budgeting rather than spending on education. The results between investment and spending are like the difference between night and day.”
