Nigeria’s education system is at a turning point.

Nigeria participates in the celebration of the International Day of Education this year together with the rest of the world.

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The current quagmire that Nigeria’s educational system has fallen into compels solemnity.

NewsReport that as the nation’s school sector has further descended into appalling conditions since then, the figures published on the decadence of Nigeria’s educational sector last year now run the risk of inspiring an unsettling nostalgia.

Nigeria will have 1 in 12 of all out-of-school children worldwide by 2020, up from 10.5 million out-of-school children in 2010, with a population of over 20 million.

These latest numbers have made the World Bank believe that the crisis in Nigeria’s education sector means that 70 percent of 10-year-olds are incapable of understanding a simple sentence or solving basic numeracy tasks.

This theme was selected after thorough deliberations on the increasing inequities that frustrate national and international efforts to achieve inclusive and equitable education and convert verbal commitments and aspirations into tangible outcomes.

The National Association of Seadogs, Pyrates Confraternity, has continued to express grave concern about the state of child education in Nigeria, where a country of almost 200 million people has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world.

A variety of factors contribute to out-of-school astronomical numbers in Nigeria. Firstly, the adverse impact of terrorism and banditry on education, especially in northern Nigeria, and the cavalier attitude with which governments across the board have handled issues about education

We are aware that many issues bedeviling education in Nigeria persist because of a disturbing lack of political strategy and will. Governments, over the years, have continued to allocate an inadequate percentage of the yearly national budget to education, despite the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)‘s persistent recommendation of at least.

In the last eight years, Nigeria’s education budget has hovered between a meager 5.68% and 8.8% of the national budget. Allocating 8.8% of this year’s budget to education may look like an improvement on previous years, but it can best be described as perfunctory in the face of the odds that continue to mount.

In the wake of the devastation caused by lockdowns and lost school time occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, crippling insecurity, a chronic absence of infrastructure, declining quality of curriculum and teaching, and worsening out-of-school statistics, we urge the Federal Government of Nigeria to immediately declare a state of emergency in the education sector.

We strongly recommend that “Better Education Service Delivery for All,” rolled out by the Federal Government in 2018 and reportedly ensuring the enrolment of over 1 million out-of-school children, be re-evaluated and primed for improved results.

The Alternative School Programme, which came on stream in January 2021 as a federal government education and social welfare program for pupils, has not quite made a much-needed impact beyond the pageantry of its inauguration day.

The Federal Government of Nigeria should lead from the front in ensuring qualitative, affordable, and compulsory education for a young demographic bursting at the seams and upon whose frail shoulders the country’s very future rests.

The egregious dishonesty that characterized the government’s handling of the recent industrial action by public university lecturers does not present much hope.

The International Day of Education is another opportune moment for all stakeholders to reflect and redouble their efforts to ensure that the future of present and future generations is secured.

The approach has to be holistic and sincere, or else we run a grave risk of contending with tens of millions of young people bereft of formal education, unable to compete with peers across the world, and cannon fodder for all sorts of social vices.

Anything less than a concerted effort based on increased funding and a collective will to see plans through will come back to bite everyone.