- Safiu Kehinde
In an effort to eradicate the menace of out-of-school children in Nigeria, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has engaged media executives to amplify and advocate increased enrollment and retention of Out-of-School children back to classroom.
UNICEF, at a one-day meeting organised on Thursday, in Zaria, Kaduna State, brought together media executives from various media organisations.
Speaking at the roundtable meeting with the media executives, Ibrahim Mohammed, Social and Behavioral Change Specialist, UNICEF Kaduna Field Office, was to raise awareness about out-of-school children, its causes and the need for increased investment in education.
Mohammed said part of the priority of the country programme of UNICEF was to reduce out-of-school children to the barest minimum.
“The target and end result of this meeting was to ensure that every Nigerian kid is enrolled in school and the meeting also wants to ensure that those that were in the schools were retained.
“This is to ensure sustainable growth of the country,’’ he said.
Ibrahim added that UNICEF’s plan was to ensure that out-of-school children were completely reduced in its next country programme.
He, therefore, appealed to the participants to propagate the gospel of reducing out- of-school children to the key stakeholders in the sector.
Mohammed also tasked the participants to ensure an open defecation- free communities and ensure that kids did not miss immunizations.
He added that another vital area of support was to also ensure that birth registration of children was sustained, eradication of stunting and other malnutrition challenges on children.
Mohammed added that UNICEF would continue to partner with the government technically to complement funding support for education and health.
“In the area of funding gaps, UNICEF would continue to advocate the betterment of children in these areas across Nigeria,’’ he said.
On his part, Malam Salisu Lawal, Director, Planning, Ministry of Education, Kaduna State said the state government was recording successes in increasing the enrollment and retention of children in schools.
He, however, decried that there were some challenges that were still impeding the education of children in the state.
Mohammed said the state still had many children who were not enrolled, recurring poverty and the non completion of school by some students but the ministry was working toward addressing these challenges.
“Part of the aim of this workshop was to engage the media so that they can understand our progress and challenges to enable us to collectively subscribe to addressing the challenge,’’ he said.
Alhaji Hamisu Abubakar , Director, National Orientation Agency (NOA) Kaduna State Office, said that the media has a critical role to play in enhancing child’s rights initiatives, promoting education and reducing out-of-school children.
The director added that the meeting was to raise awareness towards tackling the alarming indices of out-of- school children in Nigeria.
A participant, Alhaji Bashir Rabe-Mani, Zonal Manager, NAN Kaduna Zone, restated the commitment of the agency to projecting most of the issues raised in its reportage.
He added that NAN already has dedicated desks for reporting health and gender, education, agriculture and environmental issues, among others.
He, therefore, commended UNICEF for gathering the media executives to brainstorm to bolster the future of the Nigerian child.
Rabe-Mani added that the workshop would build their capacity, strengthen networking and boost national development. NAN