Traditional rulers in Adamawa State have expressed commitment to partner with relevant development partners to put an end to out-of-school syndrome threatening the future of the youth in the state.
Alh. Muhammadu Mustapha, the Lamido of Adamawa and the Chairman, Council of Emirs and Chiefs, who led the traditional rulers to a high-level meeting held in Yola, made the pledge on behalf of others.
The meeting was organised by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Bauchi Field Office in partnership with Global Partnership on Education,(GPE) in collaboration with the Adamawa State Government.
They assured that they were ready to take bold steps in the campaign to end the growing out-of-school children crisis in their domains and across the State.
The meeting, which was attended by traditional rulers from the Central Senatorial Zone, underscored the importance of collective action in tackling the out-of-school children crisis and securing the future of Adamawa youths.
According to a UNICEF-supported report released in January 2024, over 886,000 children in Adamawa State are currently out of school.
The statistics made the traditional rulers make the pledge, marking a significant step towards addressing this pressing issue and ensuring every child in Adamawa State receives quality education.
In her remarks, Dr.Nuzhat Rafique, Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Bauchi, stressed that the traditional leaders would be a catalyst to lead the campaign for reducing the number of the out-of-school children in their communities.
Rafique explained that Unicef as a humanitarian organization was out to protect and promote initiatives for children in ensuring that no child was left behind in all aspects of life especially, health and education.
Addressing the meeting, the UNICEF Education Expert, Dr. Abdulrahaman Ado, said that the aim of the orientation was to strengthen the roles of traditional rulers in promoting school enrollment, retention and transition, particularly, the out-of-school children, girls and vulnerable learners across the state.
He explained that the platform was expected to be a renewed commitment by the traditional leaders to serve as education champions in their communities, supporting advocacy, monitoring and mobilization efforts and to enhance awareness and alignment of traditional institutions with state education priorities, policies and donor supported initiatives.
“Develop actionable resolutions and follow up mechanisms for sustained collaboration between traditional leaders, Ministry of Education, State Universal Basic Education Board, LGEAs and development partners in addressing barriers to education access and learning outcomes", he added.
In his presentation on the current status of out-of-school children in the state, Mr. Rufus Hanawa, Director, Planning, Research and Statistics of the Ministry of Education, decried the level of out-of-school children in the state.
He lamented that the national level indicated that 10.2 million children are out of school with 8.1 million in their junior secondary school levels urging that all hands must be on deck to address the challenge head on.
Responding on behalf of the emirs and chiefs at the occasion, paramount ruler of Bachama Chiefdom, His majesty, Hama Bachama, applauded the development partners especially, UNICEF for the intervention pledging their cooperation for the success of the programme.
He advised the federal government to accord the traditional institutions a constitutional role so that legal backing can be provided for the traditional institution to function well.
He also urged the state government under Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri to address the deplorable nature of the infrastructures in the education sector in the state.
The one-day interface had all the Six Emirs and Chiefs in Adamawa Southern Zone including; Hama Bachama, Hama Bata, Murum Mbula, Amna Shelleng, Kwadi -Nunguraya and Gangwari Ganye as well as top government functionaries and stakeholders in education sector.
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