The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has advised the federal government to channel the earmarked funds for ‘Ruga Settlement’ to education and job creation to reduce the alarming rate of ‘out of schools’ children and unemployment in the country.
NYCN National President, Comrade John Oladele Nihi, gave the advice in a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday.
According to Nihi, Nigerians currently have the highest estimated number of over 10 million children who are out of school, and the number is increasing on daily basis.
Nihi emphasised that the issue of children dropping out of schools on daily basis should be of a great concern to the federal government, saying efforts should be made to address the ailing challenges headlong.
”The best legacy you can give to any child is education; no nation ever developed without education. Education will equip a child better to tackle and overcome several challenges of life.
”We are not unaware of the current efforts of the federal government to boost education sector, and the recent directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to state governments and parents to ensure that every child is enrolled in school.
”The gesture is quite commendable, no doubt about that; but it should go beyond that and be backed up by necessary actions through policies and legislations that will make deliberate ”non-enrolment” of a child in school a criminal offence against humanity.
”We, therefore, call on the federal government to channel the earmarked funds for Ruga settlement to boost education which will also reduce the rate of insecurity in the country,” Nihi said.
