By Ruth Oketunde
An international charity, IA-Foundation has mobilised eminent Nigerians, to generate national and global awareness on the consequences of having millions of children out-of-school in the country.
The founder and Chief Executive Officer of IA-Foundation, Mrs Ibironke Adeagbo, made the announcement in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday.
Adeagbo said the mobilisation was the latest push by IA- Foundation to tackle the continued relegation of universal education in Nigeria, where some millions kids were currently out of school.
She gave the theme of the summit as: “Street to school – a panacea to a menace.’’
Adeagbo named eminent Nigerians lined up to canvass fresh ideas on how to pull Nigeria out of the crisis as Mr Femi Falana, an activist and top lawyer; an academic, Prof. Adegbemi Onakoya and other men of ideas.
According to the UK-based Adeagbo, the international summit, to be hosted in Lagos in October, is designed to create national and global awareness on the menace of the out-of-school problem.
She said that the continued relegation of education in Nigeria was an issue of concern to everyone, especially Nigerians in the Diaspora, noting that the way forward was to tackle the problem head-long.
Adeagbo reiterated the commitment of IA-Foundation to continue to take a front role in education advocacy against the increasing rate of out-of-school children in Africa’s most populous nation.
“It is no longer news that we have over 20.2 million out-of-school children in Nigeria and it is not a time to be smiling.
“It is a time to develop strategic panaceas to the out-of-school menace and one way is to ensure a systematic and mass exodus of children from the streets to schools, including formal and informal education.”
Adeagbo noted that deliberations at the summit would be streamed live on various media platforms to reach millions of Nigerians across the globe.
“We understand that the challenges leading to out-of-school crisis are complex and they also have multiple-dimensions.
“There is the political and policy barriers, the socio-cultural barriers, the economic barriers as well as the security barriers, among all others.
“This is why we have strategically invited speakers with expertise, skills and experiences across different sectors,’’ Adeagbo said.
IA-Foundation is a UK and Nigeria-registered charity with a vision to drastically reduce the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria through the elimination of barriers, advocacy and provision of school supplies, according to the founder.
The charity was established in 2019 and it has so far facilitated the placement of about 100 out-of-school kids in various schools in Nigeria. (NAN)
