Nigeria has the greatest percentage of out-of-school children in the entire world, according to the International Children’s Education Fund of the United Nations.
This data was made public in Sokoto State by Miriam Mareso, the UNICEF Education Manager for the Sokoto office.
Miriam Mareso stated that statistics show that the government only spends 2.4% of its GDP on health and education, resulting in the country producing one of every five out-of-school children in the world.
Miriam Mareso said this at the start of a five-day media dialogue on Girl Child education that was organized for journalists covering the states of Sokoto and Zamfara.
For the sake of building an enlightened society, Mareso asked the government to implement all policies for the education of girls and to ensure the application and fulfilment of budgeted funds for that purpose.
She said, “Government at all levels is expected to put more efforts in implementing policies on girl child education and ensure sustainability while gender and cultural norms, among others, had been identified as some of the major factors responsible for less enrolment of the girl child, especially in Northern Nigeria.”
An average poor girl in Nigeria may only have a 50% chance of attending both primary and secondary school, according to the UNICEF education manager, as just 20% of children are enrolled in primary schools and around 30% in secondary schools.