The Northern Governors Forum has signed a pact with the Catholic Mission for the revival of education in northern Nigeria.

The Chairman of Northern Governors Forum, Governor Kashim Shetima of Borno State described the agreement as a major step towards ridding the region of poverty and illiteracy.

According to him, the North has an unacceptable statistics of out-of-school children, as a result of the high poverty rate in the region.

The United Nations Children’s Education Fund, UNICEF, statistics show that there are over 14 million out-of-school children in northern Nigeria alone.

The situation is further worsened by the Boko Haram insurgency, which unleashed terror on school children, especially in North-Eastern Nigeria.

At the signing of the education revival agreement with the northern governors in Abuja, the representative of the Catholic Mission said the project would also help the government to win the war terrorism in the northeast.

“Proper education of the children and the youth is of utmost importance for the world and especially in this region. We can’t beat Boko Haram with arms but we know that it would be fully defeated when the children of northern Nigeria have proper access to education,” said Prof. Jan de colder, the representative for EU and Nigeria, Sant’Egidio.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum said the agreement would address poverty which he said characterises the region.

He said, “The Northern governors are particularly touched with this intervention because we believe most of the problems of the North are as a result of low literacy rate and high poverty levels. Of course, the low literacy rate is responsible for the high poverty levels and what we need is to make our educational institutions functional, qualitative and accessible.”

On his part, the Bishop of Sokoto State, Reverend Matthew Kukah appealed to governors from the northern region to ensure the pact signed is implemented.

Reverend Kukah said, “A lot of the heavy lifting will have to be done by the Governors Forum. The Nigerian Governors Forum will have to take this burden off us to make sure that this project sails very smoothly.”

The education revival agreement is targeting the equipment of schools in the north with e-learning facilities that will help pupils connect and share ideas with their mates from other parts of the world. (Channels TV)

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