Over 50% Of Nigerian Girls Out-of-school With 48% From North East, North West, Says UNICEF

Jutaro Sakamoto, Education Manager at UNICEF, said in Abuja at the Education Conference organised by the French Institute in Nigeria that out of the 7.6 million girls out of school in Nigeria, 3.9million are at the Primary and 3.7million at the Junior Secondary level.

Sakamoto also said 48 per cent of out-of-school girls were in the North West and North East, adding that gender parity in net attendance ratio was below 1.0 in 10 States, primarily in the North, but is decreasing in 15 States.

According to him, 9 per cent of the poorest girls attend Secondary School, compared to 81 per cent from the richest class of Nigerians.

While lamenting that Nigeria accounts for 15 per cent of out-of-school children globally, Sakamoto said: “If we can’t address the situation in Nigeria, we can’t solve the situation in the world.”

He said those who going to school were not being taught well as a result of lack of facilities, adding that UNICEF’s Education Opportunity for Out-of-School Children (OOSC) project had been able to make some impact.