...Orangun of Oke-Ila, Oba Adedokun Abolarin, RCCG Pastor (UK), Others Expected As Guest Speakers
From Heritage Odih, Abeokuta
Worried by the uncertain future of the teeming 'out - of - school children' in Nigeria, IA-Foundation has concluded plans to hold a charity event - virtual funds raising, to mobilise both the financial resources and goodwill necessary to take the affected Nigerian children off the streets.
The event will take place on the 27th of February 2021 in the United Kingdom via zoom, and is also going to be a great opportunity for the community to come together to socialise, network and raise funds to flatten the curve of 'out-of-school' children in Nigeria.
The theme of the event, according to the CEO/Founder of IAF, Mrs Ibironke Adeagbo, gave the theme of this year edition of its charity event as #breaking barriers#.
The event would give all participants the opportunity to brainstorm and profess ways to reduce out - of - school- children and improve the standard of education in Nigeria.
The Foundation, the chartered accountant and education advocate, said is indeed on a mission to breaking barriers such as poverty, security and other societal challenges that could prevent a Nigerian child from having access to formal education.
Mrs Adeagbo told The Daily Crucible that she is committed to ensuring that every Nigerian child is educated to reduce poverty and improve social mobility hence the need for the Foundation to organise a flagship fund-raising event annually to support the cause and achieve its objectives.
Mrs Adeagbo is also embarking on a 10km charity walk to raise funds for the Foundation and ensure that the Nigeria children are off the streets.
Adeagbo said: “I am all about catalysing, I always have been, but especially in the last couple of years, as I relish the opportunity to invest in so many people through the Foundation.”
She recalls that a survey by United Nations about three years ago, indicates that the population of ‘out of school’ children in Nigeria has risen from 10.5 million to 13.2 million and represents the highest in the world, believing that this can neither be right, nor fair.
“We need to change this narrative and very quickly too!
"The education crisis in Nigeria is one that requires urgent, collective, and concrete action to surmount. At IA-Foundation, we do not believe that we are the solution to this problem, but we do believe that we are a part of the solution," she said.
But the Federal Government through the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, on Thursday said Nigeria’s out- of-school-children (OSC) has dropped to 6.946 million from 10.1 million.
The government said that 3.247,590 million children, who were not in school, were later enrolled within the space of a 19 months due to several activities undertaken by the Federal Ministry of Education.
However, the 2018 National Personnel Audit conducted by the Universal Basic Education Commission for Primary Schools in the country, showed that Nigeria had about 10, 193, 918 out – of – school kids, with many concentrated in the north and mostly Almajirai.
Speaking during the Ministerial Press Briefing to showcase the achievement of the ministry of education in 2020, Adamu Adamu, said that the government has obtained a credit facility of $611 million from the World Bank to support Universal Basic Education (UBE), in 17 states.
He added that the money will be used to implement the Better Education Service Delivery For All (BESDA) in the entire 13states of the North West and North East as well as Niger, Oyo, Ebony and Rivers states.
The minister said: “On the 21st of May 2019 in what I termed my valedictory press briefing, I told you that my greatest regret then, was our inability to bring down the number of out-of-school-children to a manageable/barest minimum.
“Under the initiative of the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA), the Federal Government secured a World Bank credit facility in the sun of $611,000,000 to support 17 states of the federation in strengthening Universal Basic Education as well as the first pillar of the Ministerial Strategic Plan (MSP) on Out-of-school-children.
“As at today, we have recorded impressive school enrollment figures in 17 states of the Federation where BESDA is being implemented. I can however tell you that through the BESDA initiative, we have reduced the figure of out-of-school-children by 3.247,590 as at 31st December 2020.
“This is made up of 1,792,833 through formal schools, while 1,454,757 are through non- formal interventions such as Almajiri, Girl Child Nomadic and IDPs as confirmed by the National Population Commission and National Bureau of Statistics.”
However, this year’s virtual event of IAF is being organised by a 10-man organising committee made up of high-profile members of the community both in UK and in Nigeria.
The organising committee is chaired by Mr Tolu Deru, a versatile gentleman with brilliant organisational skills while high profile guest speakers based in Nigeria and in the UK are expected t.
The plenary speakers are Oba (Dr) Adedokun Abolarin, the Orangun of Oke-Ila and proprietor of Abolarin College in Oke-Ila Orangun in Osun state.
The monarch is a renowned teacher and lawyer, that is now using his royal stool to fight poverty with education.
More importantly, he is helping the future generation by providing free and qualitative education for the future generation.
The second speaker is Pastor Mrs Sola Irukwu, wife of Pastor Agu Irukwu, co-founder of Bright Futures for Africa and co-pastor of largest RCCG in London - Jesus House.
Aside lots of good music, raffle prizes, awards, networking among others things lined up on that day, participants are advised to register to attend the event at https://iafoundation2021.eventbrite.co.uk
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