FCT ANA Laments Abduction of over 2,000 Nigerian Students this Year

FCT ANA Laments Abduction of over 2,000 Nigerian Students this Year

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chapter has lamented the kidnapping of over 2,000 school pupils this year.

Speaking on Wednesday, at the ‘2021 International Literacy Day’ celebration, the Chairman of FCT ANA Chapter, Taiwo Akerele, said that some of the abducted students never made it out from the bandits’ den alive.

This year’s celebration is tagged, “Literacy for a Human-Centred Recovery: Narrowing the Digital Divide”.

Akerele argued that with an estimated 700 million persons not formally educated accounting for 10% of world population, the world is not completely in safe hands.

According to him, the situation is worse in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.

“The UNICEF in 2019 estimated that there are over 10.5 million kids out of school, accounting for 5% of our population. Policy house estimates (conservatively) another 20m informally educated adults across the country, accounting for another 10% of our population. This is not encouraging for Africa’s largest economy,” he said.

Mr. Akerele, who is the Country Representative of Policy House International, said there is need for a concerted effort by government and all stakeholders to focus more on investment budgeting rather than spending on education.

“We call on the Nigerian government to accelerate its efforts in providing adequate security for schools, especially in Northern Nigeria, to halt the ravaging activities of bandits and kidnappers of school children in the region.

“We believe there is more to do to ensure Nigeria regains its lead in the educational sector across the region by bridging the digital divide and reducing the gap between the educationally disadvantaged and the under served.

“Policy House International is worried about the deteriorating situation and we believe that the various initiatives of government especially the presidential alternative school program earlier launched in January 2021 can be accelerated to achieve its desired objectives within a very short time,’ he said.

By PRNigeria