Members of the Enugu Chapter of the National Association of Seadogs (NAS) with pupils of Transekulu Primary School, Enugu, during the Association’s Out-Of-School Children Advocacy on Monday.
By Tony Adibe
THE chapters of the National Association of Seadogs (NAS) in Enugu and South Africa have called on the state governments, philanthropists, and organizations in Nigeria to devise practical approaches on how to return school-age children to the classrooms from the streets.
Sounding an alarm over the growing population of school age children on the streets of Nigeria, the Cap’n of the Enugu chapter of NAS, Mr Oseloka Egbuchiem, said, “it is a time bomb and a sad commentary on our social responsibility.”
Egbuchiem said that the crisis is as real as the numbers from the UNICEF 2025 and UNESCO report which shows that 10.2–18.3 million children are out of school globally and that one in every child that is out of school in the world is a Nigerian.
“That unflattering report is a summary of perhaps what the future is for us and our children,” he said.
Addressing journalists in Enugu on Tuesday, Egbuchiem explained that NAS chose October 6 to galvanize national awareness and collective action on the crisis of out of school children (OOSC) in Nigeria, through its Street Child Project and Back to School Campaign.
He said: “the truth is that NAS can’t do it alone. The governments at different levels, and philanthropists should participate in this because it is a huge crisis.” He noted further that, “we in Enugu collaborated with the chapter in South Africa on this campaign to mark the one-day national awareness and advocacy.
“On Monday, we distributed educational kits to at least 1,000 children in the state in five primary schools in Enugu metropolis and suburb.
“The beneficiary schools are Ibagwa Community Primary, Nike, Enugu, Francisca Children Academy, Ugbene 2, Enugu, Transekulu Primary School 1, Enugu, Transekulu Primary School 2, Enugu, Aguowa Primary School 1, Enugu.
“We continued the sensitization campaign today on radio where a panel of discussants threw more light on the OOSC crisis and to capture attention of the public and the government.”
Egbuchiem said NAS aims at empowering communities to sustain local education initiatives targeted at reducing OOSC in their areas.
Egbuchiem noted that NAS believes that, “the scale of this crisis undermines Nigeria’s ability to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially SDG 4 (Quality Education), which sets out the ambition of ensuring inclusive and equitable education for all.
Meanwhile, among the social reasons that have kept millions of children in Nigeria out of school are poverty, insecurity, gender inequality, child labour, early marriage, poor infrastructure, and social exclusion.
