Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed concern at the statistics of Nigeria currently having the highest number of out-of-school children globally.
He said the situation calls for “a state of emergency”.
Atiku noted that education remains the most critical tool for transforming individuals and spurring growth and development.
“I have always been bothered about the parlous state of education in the North”, he said.
“When I was Vice President I called a conference of all the 19 state governors in the North to discuss how we could address the problem of lack of adequate access to formal education by a teeming number of the young population in the region.
“Bad as the situation was, the Boko Haram destruction tore apart the little that was left of the infrastructure for formal education especially in the North-East.
“The dire situation caused the AUN to champion the Read and Feed initiative which has received tremendous support from the Irish government and the Atiku Abubakar Center for Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Development.
“I am happy when I see these children return a formal greeting in English language and when they solve simple arithmetic. There remains a large swath of distance to be covered.
“Nothing is too much to give in providing formal education to all children who are yet to be captured by the education infrastructure that the government is trying assiduously to create.
“That is why I implore more Nigerians who can afford it, to stretch a helping hand to these children. Any amount, no matter how little, will go a long way in making a difference in providing good education for the most vulnerable children not only in the North-East but in other places in the country.”
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