By Olawale Lamina
The Democratic Front, TDF, has commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration successfully reintegrating over four million Out-Of-School children back to formal education under one year of its inception as an elected government in Nigeria.
In a statement issued and signed by the Chairman, Danjuma Muhammad and the Secretary, Chief Wale Adedayo, TDF emphasized how it considered it necessary to highlight the milestone based on the growing concern and focused attention on the issue of young children out of school has generated across the world and the obstacle posed to the socio-economic development of the country.
The group noted that, “With over twenty million children currently out of school in the country, Nigeria sadly ranks high in the league of countries with the highest number of out of school children in Sub-Saharan Africa.
But with the integration of over 4 million Out-Of-School children ranging between the age of six and eighteen back to formal education in one year, the Tinubu administration is poised to unprecedentedly reducing the number of out-of-school children in the country, and also save Nigeria of the phenomenon of the risks associated with this problem.
We are glad to observe that the aggressive pursuit of educational transformation in Nigeria, as anchored by President Bola Tinubu’s policies in the last one year, has resulted into some sustainably beneficial interventions like the disbursement of N 3 billion education loans to students.
Other landmark provisions in the education sector acknowledged by the group include the improvement in the learning conditions through the Universal Basic Education (UBE), the provision of 6,500 Laboratories, Faculty Buildings, and Auditoriums in tertiary institutions through the Tetfund, installation of CCTV cameras in school premises and campuses, and the establishment of Rapid Response Teams to boost security in schools across the nation, in the last one year.
TDF observed that official statements by the Minister of Education, Prof Maman Tahir, helped to confirm the astronomical increase in school enrollment figures from 30 million in 2023 to 55 million in 2024, including the training of 85,662 teaching and non teaching staffs for various junior and senior secondary schools across Nigeria.
Furthermore, the group noted that President Bola Tinubu’s goal for the education sector in Nigeria was an indication of a broader vision to improve access to quality education for all citizens.
“We laud the President’s decision to exempt the universities from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and commitment to subsidize electricity consumption for university campuses.
Similarly, the recent approval by the President to convert some Federal Medical Centres to University Teaching Hospitals, to facilitate the mentoring of Medical Doctors and other allied health workers, equally deserves our commendation.
Finally, we call on the Federal Ministry of Education and it Agencies to redouble their efforts in ensuring that the President’s intention to fully transform the Nigerian Education Sector is realized within the tenure of his administration, TDF stated.
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