Education
Tackling Nigeria’s Out-of-School Children Menace
By Jerome-Mario Utomi
As both the federal and state governments in Nigeria continue to allow the rate of out-of-school children, especially in the northern part of Nigeria, to swell in number, even when it is obvious that the streets are known for breeding all forms of criminals and other social misfits who constitute the real threat in the forms of armed robbers; thugs, drunkards, prostitutes and all other social ills that give a bad name to the society, Nigerians are beginning to view government’s approach to the challenge as not yielding the targeted result.
The latest of such worry came from Kogi State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Wemi Jones, who recently during a 2-day North-Central Zonal Meeting on Draft Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP), held in Lokoja, called on stakeholders in the sector to find a lasting solution to the problem.
While lamenting that out of the 17 states in the country with the highest number of out-of-school children, 14 of the states are in the north, Jones said if the rate of out-of-school children can be curtailed, it would help check the insecurity that is currently bedevilling parts of the country, and would to a large extend signal goodbye to insecurity threats across the country.
Though he said it in a different way, venue and time, in the real sense of it, Mr Commissioner may not have said something new or different from what Nigerians have been worried about all these years.
To prove how successive administrations in the country have done very little in arresting the situation, a particular report in 2013, described as mind-numbing the awareness that about 10.5 million Nigerian children of school age are not enrolled in schools. Out of this number, the report explained that about 9 million are children of beggars, fishermen and other less privileged people in the society.
Again, in 2018, a UNICEF survey showed that the population of out-of-school children in Nigeria had risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million, the highest in the world.
The UNICEF survey says something else; there is still a huge number of those who are in school but are learning nothing, noting that schooling does not always lead to learning. In Nigeria, there are more non-learners in school than out of school, it concluded.
Indeed, going by the facts below, UNICEF in my views may not be wrong in its postulation.
With the nation’s current population of over 195.9 million, 45 per cent of which are below 15 years, there is a huge demand for learning opportunities translating into increased enrolment. This has created challenges in ensuring quality education since resources are spread more thinly, resulting in more than 100 pupils for one teacher as against the UNESCO benchmark of 35 students per teacher and culminating in students learning under trees for lack of classrooms.
Basically, there exist in my opinion about three major troubling realities that characterize the situation as a crisis.
First is the awareness that Nigeria is not in short supply of policy measures and laws to ensure that no child is left behind in education. Yet, the number keeps swelling each year.
As argued elsewhere, there is free and compulsory primary and junior secondary education to cater for children aged five to 14 years.
To explain this point, the Universal Basic Education Act 2004 is the legal framework that provides for compulsory, free and universal basic education of all children of primary and junior secondary school age in the country. There is also the Child Rights Act, which reinforces this as a basic human right by prescribing schooling up to junior secondary school.
UBEC intervention funds, as we know, are focused on collaboration with other state actors towards improving access to basic education and reducing Nigeria’s out-of-school children.
The budgetary allocation for education for example in 2020 is N671.07 billion constituting 6.7 per cent. Of the N671.07 billion allocated to the Federal Ministry of Education, the sum includes the statutory transfer allocated to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), which is N111.79 billion. Yet, most of the states cannot draw from this fund as a result of their (states) inability to provide the counterpart funding.
So what benefits is the fund?
It was such encumbrance I presume that recently prompted the Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, to call on the federal government to remove counterpart funding as part of basic requirements for states to access the federal government funding of UBEC.
The second factor fuelling the out-of-school challenge in Nigeria stems from the awareness that despite the universal declaration of education as a fundamental human right for everyone and this right was further detailed in the convention against discrimination in education, Nigerian governments, particularly the northern governors, failed to turn more of their energies in, or focus their creativity on the useful things that will translate to the empowerment of the people.
They made policies that view education as very narrow and restricted.
Presently, what the region and Nigeria by extension need is a restless determination to make the idle of governance a reality.
At this critical point of our nationhood, the northern governors must do this work-and in doing the work, stimulate their people particularly the youths to learn and acquire higher levels of skills and techniques for economic independence.
There are certain technical steps that must be taken.
First, it is time to recognize that any region desirous of securing the future of its people must invest in education. This is more urgent in the north where it is agreed that historical underdevelopment in Western education is responsible, more than the diversity in religious loyalties, for the social imbalance between the region and the south.
Similarly, the hour has come for the governors from the region to adopt and support the 2030 sustainable agenda- a United Nation initiative and successor programme to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)- with a collection of 17 global goals formulated among other aims to promote and cater for people, peace, planet, and poverty.
And has at its centre; partnership and collaboration, ecosystem thinking, co-creation and alignment of various intervention efforts by the public and private sectors and civil society.
The reason for this assertion is barefaced.
A few years ago, it was reported that Mathew Hassan Kukah- a well-informed, self-contained and quietly influential Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto had during a four-day workshop tagged Interfaith Dialogue and Engagement for Christians and Muslims in Minna, Niger State that the Kukah Centre (TKC), promised to introduce skill acquisition centres in the northern part of the country where about 10 million Almajiri children will acquire vocations of their choice.
For sure, with the slow economic but high population growth in Nigeria particularly in the north, such a programme would have been an effective tool for fighting unemployment and consolidating economic growth. But for yet to be identified reason(s), no governor from the north bought into that opening provided or encouraged their youth to access such opportunity.
Regardless of what others may say, it is in the interest of the government to educate its people on different skills that create jobs for the youths as a formidable way of curbing crime and reducing threatening insecurity in the country.
It should be done not merely for political consideration but from the views of national development and sustenance of our democracy and the best place to start from should be a deliberate effort to drastically reduce the number of our school children.
When this is achieved, it will in turn bring about sustained peace; result in improved hygiene and medical care, greater educational opportunities. State governments are hereby enjoined by this piece to embark on aggressive education of their people, ensuring its compulsion to a certain level.
To catalyse this process, a shift in action is important as ‘we cannot solve our socio-economic challenges with the same thinking we used when we created it.
The governors need to bring a change in the leadership paradigm by switching over to a leadership style that is capable of making successful decisions built on a higher quality of information.
Jerome-Mario Utomi is the Programme Coordinator (Media and Policy), Social and Economic Justice Advocacy (SEJA), Lagos. He could be reached via je*********@***oo.com/08032725374.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Live-learning and creator-economy platform, Hallos, as part of its expansion drive, has unveiled plans to equip millions of youths and women with digital skills and monetisation opportunities through the Learning247 Hallos Summit, aimed at integrating Nigeria’s South-East into the rapidly expanding global creator economy.
At a sensitisation and stakeholder engagement forum in Enugu, the organisation also called for stronger strategic partnerships with government agencies, educational institutions, development organisations, media houses and private-sector stakeholders to advance the creator economy as a credible engine for mass employment, youth prosperity and inclusive economic growth.
The chief executive of Hallos, Mr Alexander Oseji Uzoma, renewed the call for increased investment in internet penetration, reliable power supply, digital infrastructure, creative studios and youth-focused innovation hubs across Nigeria, especially the South-East.
Describing the creator economy as one of the most accessible and scalable employment frontiers globally, he noted that with basic tools such as a smartphone, internet access and creative skills, young people can build audiences, monetise knowledge and generate sustainable income without heavy capital investment or long career pathways.
According to Mr Uzoma, the creator economy offers low-barrier entry into diverse professions, including content creation, social media influencing, live tutoring and digital coaching, video production, podcasting, graphic design, music and performance arts, digital marketing, merchandise design, e-commerce and community management. These activities support a broader value chain spanning production, distribution, technology and management.
The Hallos co-founder also explained that global projections place the creator economy in the hundreds of billions of dollars, with millions of creators worldwide earning sustainable incomes, stressing that Hallos is focused on localising these opportunities to ensure African youths can participate meaningfully and compete globally.
He further noted that Hallos operates a live-learning and creator-focused platform that integrates education, gamified quizzes, merchandising and voluntary fan donations into a single ecosystem. Through the platform, creators can host live learning sessions and masterclasses, earn from quizzes and challenges, sell branded merchandise, receive voluntary donations, build communities around their expertise and organise monetisable podcasts.
Mr Uzoma said the creator economy, driven by social media platforms, streaming services, digital commerce and content monetisation tools, has evolved into a major global industry capable of generating wealth, creating jobs and expanding export earnings.
He stressed that social media should no longer be viewed as a recreational space but as a viable business environment for wealth creation.
“The focus should not just be on content creation alone but on building businesses around content. It is about value creation and structured digital entrepreneurship,” he said.
He disclosed that Hallos intends to reach about 10 million youths nationwide, with over 5,000 already engaged across its programmes, while placing strong emphasis on bridging the gender gap by empowering women and girls through targeted digital training, mentorship and access to monetisation platforms.
As the digital economy continues to expand, Hallos said the creator economy stands out as a practical and scalable solution to youth unemployment, offering low entry barriers and global earning potential.
The company reaffirmed its commitment to bridging the gap between talent and income, enabling young Africans to earn well above minimum wage through creativity, knowledge and structured participation in the global digital economy.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Post-graduate students of Bayero University Kano (BUK) will benefit from a scholarship worth about N1.5 billion from the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF).
The businessman put down the funds to support eligible MBA, entrepreneurship, and management postgraduate students of the institution under an initiative known as MHF Dangote Graduate Business Scholarship.
At a ceremony on Tuesday, the foundation and the school signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the auditorium of the Dangote Business School, Kano.
The deal is to provide N300 million annually over five years as scholarship awards to the beneficiaries, who will receive N150,000 each per session, beginning with the 2024/25 academic session. This is equivalent to 50 per cent of the current N300,000 fee paid by the post-graduate students. There are 1,225 students in the Business School (696 fresh and 529 returning students).
One of the beneficiaries, Mr Khalid Bababubu, who is into manufacturing and specialises in MBA, Finance and Investment, thanked the organisation for the gesture.
“We are happy to be beneficiaries of this initiative. Education is the bedrock of national development, and we will not take this scholarship for granted,” he said.
A representative of ADF, Ms Mariya Aliko Dangote, said, “Our vision at the Foundation is to build human capital that translates into economic opportunity.
“Strengthening business and entrepreneurship education is critical to turning knowledge into enterprise, innovation, and jobs. This scholarship deepens our commitment to Dangote Business School by investing directly in the next generation of business leaders and change-makers.”
On his part, the Vice Chancellor of Bayero University Kano, Prof. Haruna Musa, said, “This support comes at a critical time for many families. Beyond financial relief, it strengthens the Business School’s role as a centre for developing entrepreneurial and management talent, particularly for women who are increasingly taking leadership roles in enterprise.”
It was explained that newly admitted students will receive automatic tuition reductions during registration, and returning students who have already paid in full will receive rebates. The N300 million allocation is structured to cover all eligible postgraduate students based on current enrolment capacity.
Any unutilised balance in the first year will be retained within the Dangote Business School development envelope to strengthen learning infrastructure and digital academic capacity, ensuring continued enhancement of the academic environment.
The MHF Dangote Graduate Business Scholarship is distinct from ADF’s recently announced nationwide STEM education interventions.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Senior secondary school students across Nigeria have been invited to apply and demonstrate their academic excellence on a national stage in the eighth edition of the prestigious national science competition known as InterswitchSPAK.
The contest is organised by Interswitch, Africa’s leading technology company focused on creating solutions that enable individuals and communities prosper.
Registration for InterswitchSPAK 8.0 via www.interswitchspak.com has opened and will close on Friday, May 24, 2026. For the first time, in addition to group registrations through schools, parents can also register their individual children for the competition.
This year’s edition features a scholarship pool exceeding N40 million, with Interswitch expanding the prize structure to ensure broader impact.
The overall winner will receive a N15 million tertiary scholarship, including monthly stipends. The first runner-up will be awarded a N10 million scholarship, including monthly stipends; while the second runner-up will receive a N5 million scholarship, also including monthly stipends. All scholarships are payable over 5 years. Also, the top 9 finalists will all receive brand new laptops and other exciting prizes.
In addition to the top prizes, Season 8 introduces enhanced rewards for student finalists ranked 4th to 9th, as well as increased recognition for teachers supporting qualifying students from 1st to 9th place. This expanded structure reinforces Interswitch’s commitment to rewarding academic excellence and recognising the critical role educators play in shaping student success.
“At Interswitch, we strongly believe that Nigeria’s future will be shaped by how well we nurture today’s young minds. InterswitchSPAK goes beyond competition; it is a long-term commitment to empowering students and supporting teachers who are laying the foundation for innovation, problem-solving, and national development.
“As we launch Season 8, we remain focused on creating opportunity, rewarding merit, and inspiring excellence across Nigeria,” the Executive Vice President for Group Marketing and Communications at Interswitch, Ms Cherry Eromosele, said.
Designed to empower young minds in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) areas, InterswitchSPAK identifies, nurtures, and rewards students while equipping them with the skills and knowledge required to excel in STEM fields and drive innovation.
Over the past seven seasons, InterswitchSPAK has positively impacted thousands of students across the country, offering full university scholarships, mentorship opportunities, and national recognition for outstanding academic performance.
Beyond these rewards, the programme has consistently reinforced the importance of STEM education as a critical driver of innovation, problem-solving, and sustainable national development.
Through a transparent, technology-enabled selection process, InterswitchSPAK has also promoted educational equity by providing students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds with equal access to opportunity, ensuring that performance and merit remain central to success.
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