Foundation seeks stakeholders` support for out-of-school children

Refuge of Life Foundation, an NGO, has advocated concerted efforts by stakeholders to ensure that the challenge of out-of-school children in Osun is addressed.

The Foundation’s Executive Director, Mr. Bolarinwa Olabode, said this on the sidelines of its 7^th anniversary and award held on Thursday in Osogbo.

“Education, and no doubt, its application, is critical in preventing insecurity and promoting sustainable development.

“It is no longer news that the total number of out-of-school children in Nigeria amounts to about 20 million.

“It is hard to deny that this population does not contribute so much to the causes of insecurity in Nigeria,” Olabode said.

According to him, such a large number of out-of-school children poses serious challenges to society; hence, it requires a multi-sector approach and evidence-based interventions to overcome them.

He further said the illiterate would become adults who lack the ability, character, and moral values that would make them useful to society.

Prof. Titilayo Ayotunde, a professor of demography and social statistics at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, blamed insecurity in the country on unemployment, religion and ethnicity, political instability, and a lack of quality education.

“With the multitude of unemployed youths now in the country, both as graduates and artisans, having nothing to do, there will certainly be some security challenges’’, he said.

He recommended that the government and stakeholders put more serious efforts into equipping security agencies to secure lives and properties.

“The youth should be gainfully employed. Governments should honor their electioneering promises and do all that is possible to reduce the unemployment rate in the country’’, he said.

Ayo Ologun, a journalist and one of the award recipients, called on stakeholders to always provide access to education to the less privileged.

“This may be one of the ways of ending insecurity in the country. Perhaps this support for the young ones may be all they need to have a prosperous future’’, he said. (NAN)