The Federal Government has said it will soon obtain a N45bn grant from the Global Partnership for Education to tackle the menace of out-of-school children in the country, which currently stands at 10.2 million.

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, stated this on Monday during the Commonwealth Celebration which held at the National Commission for Colleges of Education, Abuja.

Adamu added that the grant would strengthen the Federal Government’s fight against the out-of-school children crisis.

The minister said, “There is an ongoing process to secure a N45bn grant from the Global Partnership for education, to strengthen our fight against the out-of-school children challenge.

“As part of our commitment to transforming the education sector in Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Education, in partnership with the states’ ministry of education, is intensifying various efforts to bring into the formal education, various categories of out-of-school children that have been hitherto left out of that critical service.

“Already, the government has secured N220bn loan from the World Bank to address the same problem under the Better Education Service Delivery for All programme in 17 states.

“We believe that the future we are building would be of no significance, if we do not build the people who would occupy it. The present educational programme for the Almajiris in the North is a typical case in our efforts and it is one part of that great labour to which we are unreservedly committed.”

The minister said the benefitting states from the loan included the 13 states from the North-West and North-East as well as Oyo, Ebonyi, Niger and Rivers states.

The 2018 National Personnel Audit conducted by the Universal Basic Education Commission for primary schools put the population of Nigeria’s out-of-school children at 10,193,918, with Kano, Akwa-Ibom, Katsina and Kaduna leading the pack.

He also said his ministry would soon begin the implementation of the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment, a special project for the out-of-school girls.

PUNCH