A cleric, Dr. Tayo Popoola, Spiritual head and Head Pastor of Divine Favour Prayer Assembly Ministries, Mowe, Ogun State, has strongly appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently tackle the growing number of out-of-school children in the country.
Addressing children of the church and other guests on Sunday during the 2025 end of the year Christmas Party of the children church of the ministries, Dr. Popoola stated that the recent statistics released by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) as well as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on the matter were not only frightening but worrisome.
Popoola stated that these global organisations put the figure at around 18.3 million children, adding that it was stated that 10.2 million of the figure are of primary school age while 8.1million are of secondary school age.
He lamented that the figure is by far greater than the population of several African countries and therefore, appealed to the government to decisively tackle the problem.
His words: “In a country where there is so much insecurity, this figure should worry every patriotic Nigerian”.
He, therefore, urged the government to judiciously use the N3.52 trillion allocation to Education in the 2026 budget in addressing the problem and other problems facing the education sector, especially, the age-long ASUU problems.
