civil society organisation, Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), has said that 13.5 million children in Nigeria have no access to free and quality basic education with girls in the northeast geo-political zone constituting higher percentage.

The organisation attributed the high number of out-of-school children to insurgency, poor funding, cultural and religious dispositions.

LEDAP’s executive programmes manager, Ms. Pamela Okoroigwe, disclosed this in Yola at an advocacy campaign on the right to free, compulsory and quality education for children.

Okoroigwe stated that the emergence of the COVID-19 further put a strain on child education as all schools in the country remained closed throughout the COVID-19 lockdown.

“It was against this backdrop that LEDAP, in conjunction with Malala Fund, is raising awareness on the right to free, compulsory and quality basic education in Nigeria,” she said.

She said the project was aimed at providing solution to the low education enrolment and high rate of school dropouts for children in Nigeria.

Okoroigwe called on the Adamawa State government, as well as the ministries of education and justice of Bauchi, Kano and Kaduna states to prioritise the right to education of the child in their agenda and to guarantee that no child is denied access to free education.

She also urged the government to commit more resources to education through increased budgetary allocation and funding to ensure no child is denied access to free basic education by any school.

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