Applauding Ogun’s campaign to tackle out-of-school children menace
On the 8th of July, 2025, the Ogun State Government in collaboration with the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children’s Education flagged off the state advocacy for revitalization of the out of school children initiative.
This is an initiative of the federal government under President Bola Tinubu with a mandate to get all out of school children engaged either through formal education or informal by learning a vocation.
The advocacy campaign is expected to intensify across communities in the coming weeks, with a strong emphasis on awareness, enforcement, and empowerment to bring every child back into the fold of education.
The initiative also highlighted Ogun State’s rebranded technical colleges, each now with a focused area of excellence—hospitality in Idi-Aba, construction in Ijebu-Ode, and industry in Igbesa.
According to the Director of the Ogun State Agency for Mass Education, Mrs. Ogunlesi, the agency has offices in all local government areas and targets out-of-school children aged 10–18 with specific learning and vocational pathways.
The Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science, and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, said the state was adopting a multi-pronged approach to tackle the menace.
He blamed rising insecurity and poverty for the increasing number of out-of-school children, even as it launched a major advocacy campaign to address the crisis.
He noted that beyond free education, Ogun State has introduced several interventions such as the Ogun skills Fund invested in vocational training centres, technical colleges and job centres to bring children and youths back into productive learning.
Prof. Arigbabu added that many out-of-school children in the state are migrants from other regions, especially the North, and emphasized that Ogun would not reject them but instead integrate them into its education system.
The Chairman of the Ogun State Advocacy Team, Dr. Sanwo David said the goal is to ensure every child is enrolled and that the advocacy team will go as far as churches, mosques, and markets to identify children not attending school.
He disclosed that the federal government plans to reduce the number of out-of-school children by 50 per cent before the end of the current administration, stressing the importance of community engagement and collaboration with religious and market leaders.
It is worthy of note that a task force in Ogun State now fines parents N50,000 if their children are found loitering during school hours as shared by the Iyaloja of Kuto Market, Alhaja Isiwatu Adewuyi.
The event had in attendance, the Alake of Egbaland, security agencies, religious leaders, CSOs even some of the out of school children were at the venue.
The event also featured representatives of traditional institutions, youth councils, teachers’ unions, and local government chairmen from the six councils in Ogun Central, all of whom pledged support for the initiative.
This initiative if well followed up and executed will create a safer society for talents to thrive and to secure the future of the country.
