It has been observed that, despite the urgency of educational improvements, Nigeria is failing to make sufficient progress at a sufficient rate.“Moreover, the significant disparities within the country mean that increased investment must be paired with evidence-based and equity-focused decision-making to implement targeted policies and interventions to reach the farthest behind.”
He stressed that in Nigeria, the farthest behind are more than 26% of the OOS children who are in the North-East and 40% who are in the North-West.”
According to him, “These proportions are notably higher than the just 2% of the country’s OOS population that lives in the Southeast, 6% in the South, and 8% in the South West.”
“Moreover, the highest proportion of OOS children, more than half, are concentrated in just 8 states, making state-level investment based on need critical to addressing the OOS challenge,” he added.
The education specialist added that, “Moreover, reaching these children will require adequate attention to the intersecting vulnerabilities that disadvantage them. Business as usual is not only an inadequate approach because it fails to drive adequate economic improvement but also because it continues to fail to reach children who are the farthest behind, especially children in rural areas, who account for more than 85% of the OOS children.”
“This proportion is even higher at the primary level, where 9 out of 10 OOS children are from rural areas,” he concluded.
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