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Non-implementation of Buhari’s programme keeps several children out of school

 

Despite being the seat of the Nigerian government, Abuja still serves as home to thousands of school-age children who are out of school.
Currently, Nigeria has an estimated 13.2 million out-of-school children, the highest in the world, according to UNICEF.
In Abuja, about 13 per cent of children who are of school age are out of school. The figure rises to about 27.2 per cent in the North-central region of Nigeria, which Abuja is part of, according to a UNICEF study.
However, parents of many of these children say they believe a major programme of the Muhamamdu Buhari-administration, if implemented in Abuja, would make them enrol their children in school.
Online medium, Premium Times reported how despite its challenges, the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSF) has increased school enrolment in states like Kaduna, Enugu and Osun.
Curiously, the federal government, which also controls Abuja, is yet to implement the programme in the Nigerian capital.
The project, according to the federal government, is aimed at feeding 12 million school children across the nation.
The programme’s goal is to also increase the enrolment rate by mopping up the huge number of out-of-school children in Nigeria and also tackling early year malnutrition.
The programme, in its third year, was introduced in 2016. The federal government started the Home Grown School Feeding and Health Programme based on the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act 2014.
A government document titled ‘Investing in our people; A brief on the National Social investment programmes in Nigeria’ revealed that the school feeding programme is now being implemented in 30 states across Nigeria and it is targeted at 12 million school children.
The document, which was released in March 2019, stated that about 9,536,860 pupils in 52,604 public primary schools in the country are beneficiaries of the scheme.
The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) boasts that the scheme is widely recognised for its multiple benefits for schoolchildren, particularly in low and middle-income countries.
It says evidence shows that children are more likely to stay, attend and be able to learn through the provision of school meals.
Also, in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), parents and guardians in many communities believe the implementation of the school feeding programme will reduce the number of these children drastically.
But since the inception of the initiative in 2016, many of them are still waiting to benefit from the programme.

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