70% of children out of school in Kebbi – UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday that about 70 per cent of children are out of school in Kebbi.

The Zonal Head of the fund from Sokoto Field Office, Mr Mohammad Mohiuddin, made this known to newsmen in Birnin Kebbi during the end of the year review meeting on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting will review the joint Government and UNICEF Annual Work Plan 2016 and finalise the Annual Work Plan for 2017.

“Kebbi is one of those states in Nigeria with huge number of children who are out of the school; 70 per cent of children in Kebbi are out of school,” Muhiuddin said.

He said the fund was able to source for 75 million dollars from the Qatar Foundation under a programme called “Educate a Child Programme’’ in order to address the problem in the state.

“This programme covers four states: three states are under my Office – Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara, and the other one is Katsina State. I tried my best to bring more money to Kebbi,” he said.

According to him, 50 per cent of the amount would be used to address the problem in nine local government areas of Kebbi state.

Mohiuddin explained that the aim of the joint review meeting between Kebbi state and UNICEF was to look back and see the progress made, the challenges faced and how those problems were going to be addressed.