Out-of-school children: Reps urge states to implement UBEC, Child’s Right Acts
The House of Representatives has urged the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory to implement the provisions of the Universal Basic Education Commission Act, 2004 and the Child’s Right Act, 2003.
The House urged the Minister of the FCT, Mohammed Bello, to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the UBEC Act and the Child’s Right Act in the territory, while urging the UBEC to liaise with state governments, which had adopted the Child’s Right and the UBEC Acts for the enforcement of the laws.
The motion, which was moved by a member of the House, Bamidele Salam, at the plenary on Thursday, was titled, ‘Need to reinforce the provisions of the compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act, 2004 in the Federal Capital Territory and other parts of the country’.
Salam made reference to a report by the Federal Ministry of Education in 2021, which stated that the estimated number of out-of-school children in Nigeria was 10.1 million, while the United Nations Children’s Fund put the number at 13.2 million.
The lawmaker said the figure appeared to be on the increase as the ministry had stated that there had been an increase of more than three million in the figure from 2020.
