The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has unveiled a new plan to support 10 million children in the area of access to formal and non-formal education in its new country programme that would run from 2023 to 2027.
The UNICEF Communication Specialist, Dr Geoffrey Njoku, made this known in Kano State during a two-day media dialogue on the new country programme 2023-2027 and the status of implementation of the Child Rights Law 2003 in states.
The media dialogue was organised by UNICEF in collaboration with the Child Rights Bureau, the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture.
Njoku said that the organisation in the last five years had supported the enrolment of 1.5 million girls in schools across the country using a new evidence-based approach.
He added that five million children also continued to learn during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UN Agency has been at the forefront of the efforts to support the attempt by the Nigerian government to address the challenge of out-of-school children in the country estimated at 10.1 million.
Njoku further said the vision of the 2023-2027 programme for Nigeria was to ensure that the rights of every child, especially the most excluded, to survive, thrive, learn, be protected and develop to his or her full potential.
He added that the Organisation’s plan was to free the children from poverty in a safe and sustainable climate and environment.
”The five-year strategic plan which began in January is to help Nigerian children who are left behind in developmental strides meet up with their counterparts in other parts of the world,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Child Protection Specialist of the UNICEF Office in Kano, Hajia Fatimah Adamu, has advocated the implementation of the Child Rights Law in the states, saying this was critical in the reduction of out-of-school children in the country.
Adamu said that the CRL was put in place to protect all kinds of children, stressing that if implemented appropriately, would lead to the end of out-of-school children menace in the country.