Ahmadu Bello University is passionate about the project initiated by the federal government to completely address the menace of out-of-school children in many parts of Nigeria, especially in the north.
The university position on the age-long social problem was made known by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Prof Bello Sabo, in Abuja on Wednesday, 3rd June, 2026.
Sabo, who represented the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adamu Ahmed, spoke at the launch of a project for enabling out-of-school children to join formal education through accelerated learning programmes.
He said ABU would join hands with the government towards the success of the project considering its likely impacts on the northern part of Nigeria.
Sabo explained that ABU’s participation in the project was also due to its strategic location and academic position in the north.
The meeting drew various participants from NGOs and MDAs under the Federal Ministry of Education.
These included National Commission for Nomadic Education, NTI, UBEC, and ‘National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children Education’ (NCAOOSCE)
Equally in attendance were UNESCO IICBA and representatives from UNESCO.
The meeting, held at the Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, was declared open by the Hon Minister of State for Education, Prof Suwaiba Said Ahmed.
In her remarks, the minister highlighted the menace of out-of-school children in Nigeria, stressing that the problem was causing serious threats in many states of Nigeria, especially in the north.
She said the government was finding it difficult to formulate a policy that would address the problem completely due to the lack of adequate statistics on the number of children who were out of school.
The minister, however, said the ministry was working very hard to provide a database for policy formulation as well as monitoring and evaluation of the project.
She particularly appreciated donors and consultants, especially from Japan who would pilot the project.
Both the donors and consultants made presentations on strategies and ways forward on the project.
It was resolved at the end of the meeting that a technical committee be set up to work out modalities for policy formulation, implementation, research, monitoring and evaluation of the project.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor was accompanied to the meeting by the Director, Institute of Administration, Prof Abubakar Madaki.
Others on the team were the Director, Institute of Education, Prof Abubakar Jumare and the Director, Centre for Islamic Legal Studies (CILS), Dr Sa’ad Musa Abubakar.