Nigerian Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, says Nigeria’s number of out-of-school children is lower than the 15–18 million estimate often cited by the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, insisting that ongoing data mapping shows a significantly reduced figure.

 

Alausa spoke on Tuesday during an interview on Politics Today on Channels Television, where he explained that the federal government is conducting a nationwide mapping exercise to identify the actual number of out-of-school children.

 

 

He said the ministry has already reintegrated over one million children into schools within the last 30 months through ongoing interventions.

 

According to him, the government’s mapping exercise involves physically tracking and identifying children at the community level to determine accurate enrolment figures across states.

 

The minister cited Kaduna State as an example, saying while earlier estimates placed the number of out-of-school children at about 1.8 million, the ongoing verification process indicates the figure is closer to 700,000.

 

He added that similar exercises in other states, including Akwa Ibom, suggest significantly lower numbers than previously reported.

 

Alausa maintained that although the revised national figure is below 8 million, the situation remains a serious concern requiring continued intervention.

 

He said: “We’re doing data mapping of our out-of-school children as we continue the aggressive intervention in moving children back to school.

 

“Today, I can tell you that we’ve moved over one million children off the streets and back to school within the last 30 months.

 

“UNICEF can quote its data. Some people say 15 million or 18 million, but what I’m telling you is that we are carrying out data mapping of the actual out-of-school children. We’ve gone to several states. We target those out-of-school children, locating them where they are and identifying their addresses.

 

“Now we’ve done several states. Like in Akwa Ibom State, we find it difficult to identify out-of-school children.

 

“UNICEF quoted Kaduna as having done well. Today, we’ve mapped every single out-of-school child in Kaduna. UNICEF data said Kaduna has 1.8 million. When we completed this data mapping in Kaduna, we found only 700,000.

 

“Is that still high? Yes. But now, do we have a real number? Yes. I can tell you unequivocally.

 

“Today, we mapped the entire out-of-school children population in Kaduna State, and we only have 700,000, but from UNICEF data, they said 1.8 million.

 

“By the time we aggregate all the data we have, we have less than 8 million, but that is still too high.

 

“But then, what are we now doing to bring these kids back? We have innovative programmes that we’ve never implemented before.

 

“We have now finalized agreements with private schools to take in these children. We’re paying them on a per capita basis. We’re paying them per child to take them in. It will start this year.”