Kano, Akwa Ibom, Katsina and Kaduna states have emerged tops on the list of states with the highest number of out-of-school children in Nigeria, the 2018 National Personnel Audit for primary school has shown.

These states make up a huge number of the 10,193,918 children who are not in school, according to the report.

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While Kano State emerged tops with 989,234 population of out-of-school children, Akwa Ibom has 581,800 to come second, Katsina has 536,122 to come third and Kaduna has 524,670 to come fourth.

Taraba is fifth with 499,923 out-of-school children, followed by Sokoto, 436,570; Yobe, 427, 230; Zamfara, 422,214 and Oyo, 418,900.

But the state with the least number of out-of-school children is Ekiti with 50,945; followed by Bayelsa, 53,079; Enugu, 82,051; and Kwara, 84,247.

A breakdown of the figures is contained in the Short and Medium Term Blueprint/Work Plan on the implementation of Education for Change: A Ministerial Strategic Plan (MSP) document obtained by The Nation in Abuja.

The document estimated that the number of out-of-school children at the end of five years (2018-2023) would be 193, 918.

To achieve this (193,918), the government said it has launched intervention programmes aimed at reducing the rate of out-of-school children in Nigeria by 2,000,000 every year for the next five years.

The document said: “The 2018 National Personnel Audit for primary schools in Nigeria shows that 10, 193,918 were out of school.

“Following the various Federal Government intervention programmes aimed at reducing the rate of out-of-school children in Nigeria by 2,000,000 every year for the next five years, the estimated out-of-school children at the end of the five years will be 193,918.

“The above followed the assumption that there would be no new out-of-school children in these five years.

“All children of school age will automatically enrol in school, following the compulsory years of schooling as enshrined in the Universal Basic Education Act.” (The Nation)

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