Buhari Assents To Almajiri Bill In Last Act As President

President Muhammadu Buhari assented to a bill to create a commission to cater for Almajiri and out-of-school children in Nigeria.

This was disclosed in a statement late Sunday night by the media aide to the Presidency, Bashir Ahmad.

The Commission will also be responsible for giving out-of-school children skill acquisitions in a bid to reduce poverty in Nigeria.

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The President who is about to handover assented the bills on Sunday evening according to the Presidential aide, added:

“President Muhammadu Buhari has assented to the bill seeking to create a commission to cater to Almajiri and out-of-school children to prevent deprivation and exploitation.

“The Bill sponsored by Balarabe Shehu Kakale and 18 others is titled: “Bill for an Act to Establish National Commission for Almajiri Education and out of School Children to Provide for a Multimodal System of Education to Tackle the Menace of Illiteracy, Develop Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Programmes, Prevent Youth Poverty, Delinquency and Destitution in Nigeria; and for Related Matters (HB.2023),”

The statement also revealed that When established, according to the bill sponsors, the Commission will “be responsible for providing skills acquisition and entrepreneurship programmes development for children and teenagers through schools to reduce the rate of poverty, and lessen delinquency and destitution in Nigeria”.

Out-of-school children

The Nigerian Government last year revealed that the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria dropped from 13 million to 6.9 million in 2020. It added that it has further recorded an impressive enrolment of school children in the last year, especially in some of the frontline states—Kano, Kaduna, Kastina, Sokoto, Gombe, Bauchi, and others.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who added that massive enrolment had taken place recently and attributed the feat to collaborative efforts between the Federal and state governments.

The minister said that the Federal Government was working assiduously to further reduce the number of out-of-school children to a more manageable level. He added that efforts were also being made to improve access to primary and secondary education.

Outgoing administration

Meanwhile, in a speech on Saturday, President Muhammadu Buhari insisted that he is leaving behind a credible electoral process that guarantees fair and transparent results as well as reducing the influence of money to the barest minimum as he rounds up his 2-term presidency on Monday, May 29.

The president said that this legacy is evidenced in the victory of candidates without any political godfather or access to money as they defeated other candidates with enough financial resources.