“Kano State Alone Gathers 1 Million Children That Are Out-Of-School” – UNICEF Reveals

According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), there are at least 989,234 out-of-school children in Kano State, located in Northwestern Nigeria.

Ms Cristian Munduate, the UNICEF representative in Nigeria, stated this during a press conference in Kano on Thursday (today), according to Naija press.

While stating that every kid should have access to education, she pointed out that over one million of the state’s out-of-school children are of both genders.

Munduate said that Nigeria must intensify its efforts to solve the urgent problem of out-of-school children and increase educational spending.

“There is the need for every child to have access to education,’’ she said, revealing further that 1.5 million girls were enrolled in schools under UNICEF’s Girls’ Education Project Phase 3, implemented between 2012 and 2022.

According to Munduate, the project was funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK, and it was implemented in six states – Kano, Bauchi, Katsina, Niger, Sokoto and Zamfara.

She also noted that Kano State had a total of 484 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), one in each political ward, in the health sector.

“The state is expected to have functional PHCs that can provide a full complement of Tier I Minimum Service Package services round-the-clock.

“The PHCs must be staffed by an adequate number of skilled birth attendants to provide antenatal care, delivery and postnatal care services.

“Currently, Kano has 185 such PHCs, close to fulfilling the one functional PHC per ward criterion. These facilities will fulfil basic requirements with minimal resource allocation by the state government.

“Kano State has 50 PHCs that meet one functional PHC and ward criteria.

“Therefore, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target, the state government must invest to have functional PHCs in 484 wards that meet the Tier I Minimum Service Package requirements by 2026,’’ she stressed.

Munduate also said 1.3 million new births and those of children less than five years of age had been registered in Kano State since digital birth registration started in 2022. (NAN)