Ten states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory are home to about eight million out-of-school children, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has disclosed.
UNICEF, in a statement by its Communications Specialist, Mr Geoffery Njoku, yesterday, said about 2,000 youth across the ten states and Abuja presented petitions to their governors, parliamentarians, policy makers and other influential persons in a mass effort to draw attention to the need to act on commitments to increasing access to safe, quality education for all children, especially girls.
The statement noted that the mass action which occurred, yesterday with the support of UNICEF, comes as the world celebrates the Day of the African Child, commemorating the day in 1976 that hundreds of students were shot in Soweto, South Africa, while demonstrating for their right to quality education.
“The 10 states where the mass actions are taking place are, Bauchi, Niger, Katsina, Kano, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba and the FCT, have about eight million children not in school and, an average enrolment rate of only 57 per cent.
“The Nigerian campaign for access to quality education will hold the newly-elected government officials at all levels accountable for their campaign promises to provide equitable access to free, safe and quality education for every child, especially the girl child, in Nigeria.
“The global theme for this year’s Day of the African child is child rights in all situations, including during humanitarian crises,” the statement read.
According to the fund, over 10.5 million children are unable to access safe and quality education in Nigeria today because of the ongoing crisis in the north-east, which has left schools destroyed, adding that teachers were unavailable, and parents were terrified to send their children to school due to insecurity.
The statement quoted UNICEF’s Representative in Nigeria, Peter Kawkins, as saying: “Schools should be a safe place for children – one in which they can get a quality education that will put them on the path to a secure future,”.
“Sadly, the demand for quality education by children in Soweto, South Africa in 1976, is still valid today, in too many countries around the world. The youth actions we are seeing today across several states is a wakeup call for leaders to act on their commitments to provide quality education for all children, in all situations.”
“The engagement seeks to secure commitments from national and state governments to prioritise children’s rights to education in their governance agenda, including through budgeting, in their states and at the national level.
“This engagement creates an opportunity for Nigerian youth to advocate to policy and decision makers and urge them to commit resources to education, without which the substantial number of out-of-school children in Nigeria will not be reduced.
The fund noted that the mass action is calling for improved school infrastructure, a massive enrolment campaign to bring all children to school, and targeted investments to ensure an uninterrupted 12 years of schooling for girls.
“In addition, it hopes to extract a commitment for a 10% increase in budgetary allocation and release of funds for education, with 50 percent of the total budget to basic education, recruitment, deployment and provision of incentives for 1000 female teachers per year and recruitment and deployment of 1000 qualified teachers per year, especially to rural areas, where they are most needed”.
UNICEF further disclosed that the action comes as the world celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
“The Convention is the most widely-ratified human rights treaty in history, and stipulates that every child has the right to education. It has helped to transform children’s lives; inspiring legislative changes to protect children and enabling them to participate actively in their societies. Nigeria ratified the CRC in 1991.
“As part of the commemoration, UNICEF has released a “Passport to Your Rights” – a copy of the CRC in child-friendly language, in pocket format. UNICEF aims that every child in Nigeria has a copy by 2030 – the deadline for achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
“The CRC ‘passport’ is also available in Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Pidgin languages, helping to ensure access by millions of Nigerians,” it said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has said that no fewer than 25 million refuges across the world travel two billion kilometres yearly to get to their first point of safety.
The Head of Sub-office of UNHCR in Cross River, Mr Mulugeta Zewdie, disclosed this, yesterday, during a one kilometre walk in collaboration with Cross River State Emergency Management Agency and other partners in solidarity with the suffering refugees around the world.
The walk, which took place yesterday at Ogoja local government area of Cross River, had the theme, “Step with refugees”, while banners with the inscription such as ‘I stand with refugees’ were displayed.
Zewdie said that it was in view of the trekking that UNHCR announced a new global campaign, calling on people all over the world to cover the distance traveled by refugees every year.
According to him, UNHCR traced the journeys of refugees around the world and calculated that collectively, people forced to flee travel very far every year to reach the first point of safety.
He recalled that in 2016, Kenyan refugees traveled 240 kilometres to reach Turkey, while South Sudan refugees traveled more than 640 kilometres to reach Kenya and Rohingya refuges in Myanmar traveled approximately 80 kilometres to reach Bangladesh.
Zewdie explained that the walk was held in Ogoja because the local government hosted the highest number of Cameroonian refugees in Cross River.
“These acts, when taken together acknowledge the resilience and strength of refugees,’’ he said.
Also, the Acting Director-General of SEMA, Mr Princewill Ayim, said the one kilometre walk was held in solidarity with the long distance trekking undertaken by refugees in search for safety in other countries.
Ayim added that most refugees were displaced as a result of violence or crises which had driven them from their ancestral homes.
He said that Cross River State was currently hosting over 27,000 refugees, adding that the state was among those hosting the largest number of refugees in the world.