Education
Education: UNICEF Raises Fresh Concern Over Learning Crisis In Nigeria
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has raised a fresh concern over the learning crisis Nigeria is currently grappling with, urging stakeholders, particularly the government at all levels to, as a matter of priority, take stronger actions and commitments towards addressing the challenge.
The global agency noted that the crisis, particularly at the basic education level is stalling meaningful development in the country and globally by extension.
The Education Specialist, UNICEF Nigeria, Yetunde Oluwatosin, raised the concern at a two-day media dialogue organised by UNICEF Nigeria in collaboration with the National Orientation Agency, Lagos State, and the Edo State Universal Basic Education Board, recently.
The workshop with newsmen from print, broadcast and online media from the South-West region as participants, has “Turning the Tide on Nigeria’s Learning Crisis” as its theme.
Making a presentation and quoting from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), Oluwatosin disclosed that 73 per cent of Nigeria’s children, aged 10 years below, with the majority in the North and from the poorest families and in rural communities, were struggling to read or comprehend simple text, while an alarming nine out of every 10 children (90%) in sub-Saharan Africa generally were also confronting with learning difficulty.
She also noted that while only one out of 14 children between ages seven and 14 years could demonstrate fundamental skills, only 25 per cent have numeracy skills capable of solving simple mathematical problems.
Oluwatosin equally pointed out that although up to 73 per cent of Nigeria’s youths were literate, only seven per cent possessed the necessary ICT skills required for the digital economy while just eight per cent of children from the poorest families attend school compared to 78 per cent of their peers from the richest homes.
She said all these conditions, among others, are widening the inequality gaps between the children from the poorest homes and those from the richest families and also between those living in urban and rural communities.
She therefore recommended that the trend would need to be reversed otherwise it would be difficult to lift many children and young adults in the country out of extreme poverty and also out of criminal activities.
She, however, attributed the crises to a number of factors including limited infrastructure, inadequate funding, gender parity, shortage of qualified teachers, poor delivery system, and insufficient learning data and materials, among others.
She emphasised UNICEF’s efforts in filling the gap in a way it can including provision of learning materials for over 1.8 million children between 2018 and 2022 and further plans to reach another 4.8 million children primarily in the North, by 2027.
Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP), the state health insurance agency, is set to take the health insurance scheme to schools, especially tertiary institutions, in the state.
This disclosure was made by the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of RIVCHPP, Dr. Vetty Rolegherighan Agala, when she led a team from RIVCHPP on an advocacy visit to the office of the Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Education on Friday, 16th January 2026.
Dr. Agala, who solicited authorisation from the Ministry for RIVCHPP to write to the institutions under Ministry’s mandate so as to begin enrolment of students in the various schools , said that for the health insurance agency to expand universal health coverage of the state, then students need to be enrolled into the programme.
RIVCHPP’s Executive Secretary announced that the agency has also started talks with the State branch of Nigeria Association of Proprietors of Private Secondary Schools (NAPPSS) to ensure that no one in the state is left out from having the opportunity of accessing quality healthcare services without passing through financial hardship.
Dr. Agala also commended the innovative policies that the Permanent Secretary have brought to bear towards improving the educational exploits in the state, saying that the changes align to the interest and mandate of Governor Siminialayi Fubara stance on education.
RIVCHPP’s Executive Secretary appreciated the Permanent Secretary for giving the team audience, pledging her team’s dedication and commitment to clients’ satisfaction, calling on schools to embrace the S-SHIP package dedicated for the well-being of students in Rivers State.
In her remarks and response, the Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Education, Dr.(Mrs. ) Azibaolanari Uzoma-Nwogu, who warmly welcomed the RIVCHPP team, promised to share with and disseminate all information about RIVCHPP to all public schools in the state so that the schools will be willing to give RIVCHPP opportunity to sensitise them on what RIVCHPP is all about and the benefits of signing up with RIVCHPP.
Dr. Uzoma-Nwogu advised RIVCHPP to be proactive and consistent in the mandate of providing affordable and quality health care to Rivers residents.
The visit witnessed a presentation of RIVCHPP’s sensitisation/campaign materials to the Permanent Secretary by RIVCHPP’s Executive Secretary
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