The Nigerian Senate, in commemoration of the 2019 Children’s Day, has called on the Federal Government and new state governors to look into the aspect of child education to curtail growing insecurity and other social vices across the nation.

This followed the Order 43 cited by Senator Ahmad Lawan while informing the Senate on the events of the International Children’s day celebrated on Monday.

Lawan, in his explanation, stated: “The challenge we have is giving our children the kind of treatment they deserve and ensuring they are groomed to be leaders of tomorrow.” He lamented that “today, we have millions of children out of school and this should not be so.”

Lawan noted that the time has come for the Federal Government to take a major step and be brave enough to address the issues concerning child health and education.

According to him, “We can make significant contributions to the universal basic education; from kindergarten to basic secondary school.

“I believe the major source of insecurity today in this country is because of this neglected sector of the economy. Children from 17 years have been found engaging in criminal activities.

“It is time for us, as a government, to work on the compulsory free universal education Bill to ensure our children are not left on the street and also to make sure education is actually free for them.”

The lawmaker added: “We have to look into ways we can provide an environment for children who roam about the street to be engaged in school activities and not insurgency.”

Also contributing to the matter in the Chamber, Senate President Bukola Saraki said: “We have all celebrated Children’s Day but we are in a society where 9 percent of our children are still out of school. We owe that responsibility not only to ensure we see that all our children have that opportunity to go to school but parents must be held responsible to ensure that their children go to school.”

Speaking further, Saraki shed light on how the National Assembly has passed some Bills including the amount of funds available to Universal Basic Education (UBEC) and reduced the percentage of contributions to states just to ensure that it is possible to access funds in UBEC.”

Saraki equally called on the new state governors to also take up the task from their different capacities. He said: “I think a lot of work has to be done by the new incoming Governors on education. No matter what we do say at the national level this is purely something that for effectiveness has to be treated at the sub national level.”

He concluded that the greatest asset of any nation is education, stressing that “children must see and benefit from quality education.”

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