Date: 2017-11-02

NIGERIA'S unemployed youths are not only increasing at an alarming rate, but are also educationally ill-equipped for today's knowledge-based, value-driven world.

Speaking during the Joint Consultative Committees on Education (JCCE) meeting in Ilorin last week, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State said that unemployment had become a social problem threatening to evolve into a serious security challenge.

The governor called for urgent action to stem the malaise, emphasising the need to focus on functional and market-relevant education and skills training to prepare the youths to meet the economic sector's needs and drastically reduce unemployment.

The theme of the meeting was 'Funding of Education for the Achievement of 2030 Agenda'.

Represented by his deputy, Elder Peter Kisira, Governor Ahmed charged the delegates to come up with resolutions that would uplift education to the deserved level in the country.

He urged the delegates to identify, collate, analyse and select the best among the memoranda from the meeting towards efficient tackling of the challenges in the education sector, especially funding.

The governor described the theme, 'Funding Education for the Advancement of Education 2030 Agenda – a Monumental Vision of Providing Quality and Inclusive Education to the Nigerian Child', as appropriate, saying that the present administration in the state had accorded education the required priority.

He disclosed that the state would soon commence the remodeling of primary and secondary schools across the state to ensure that students study in an atmosphere conducive to learning.

The chairperson of JCCE, Dr Chioma Nwadei, said with increased school enrolment in the country, the burden on education had become overwhelming.

She noted that education is the key to achieving all the 17 goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, and called for adequate funding of the sector by all stakeholders.

Dr Nwadei, who is also the director, Educational Planning, Research and Development, Federal Ministry of Education, noted that "about 60 per cent of out-of-school children were girls; and that many of those enrolled dropped out early due to low perception of the value of education and early marriages.

She also charged the delegates to come up with a flagship project on financing education and strategies for tracking the spending of funds allocated to educational institutions to ensure sustainability.