By Progress Godfrey, Abuja
An advocacy organisation, Hip City Innovation Centre (HipCity Hub), has called on the incoming administration to kick start the 100 Schools in 100 Days Project as provided in the 2022 budget.
The Executive Director of HipCity Hub, Bassey Bassey, who made the call during a press briefing at the weekend in Abuja, said the briefing was aimed at alerting the incoming government to know the poor state of access to quality basic education of original inhabitants of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
Bassey lamented the increase in the number of Nigeria’s out-of-school children which according to UNICEF’s report of October 2022, stood at a staggering 20 million.
He said HipCity in 2022 had taken its advocacy to the corridors of education administrators in the FCT, during which they assured that the ‘100 schools in 100 days project’ was awaiting the approval of 2022 budgetary allocation.
He, however, noted that after over four months of the release of the 2022 allocation, nothing was done about the said project to improve access to quality education.
He said, “It is worrisome enough that the original inhabitants of Abuja continue to suffer disconnect from benefiting from what their fellows in other states are benefiting/enjoying, we cannot fold our hands and watch the children and their education suffer. The education gap that exists in original inhabitants’ communities needs to be plugged with immediate alacrity.
“As an organization, we continue to pledge our support to government in their efforts to deliver quality and accountable governance to the people, but in situations where the government isn’t doing enough to serve the people, especially the poor, underserved and underrepresented communities, we will not keep mute and watch.
“Original inhabitants deserve access to quality education, it is their right and that right should not be trampled upon.
“On this note, we are calling on the government of Nigeria, FCT ministry and its education mandate agencies to swing into immediate action in addressing the infrastructural decay eating deep into the education system in rural indigenous communities.
“HipCity Innovation Centre is deeply worried about this situation, the worry is sustained by antecedent where in many cases a change in government or leadership signals the end/death of project(s) of started by the predecessor no matter how lofty the idea/project is.
“Government is a continuum and as such we are calling on the government to fast track the implementation of the ‘100 Schools in 100 Days initiative’ no matter what the political dynamics are.”
On the widely acclaimed free education by the government for pupils in primary and post-primary schools, Bassey stated that original inhabitant pupils have complained of the high cost of levies and charges by school administrators either in the guise of “registration or PTA”. These levies and charges, he noted, also contribute to the reasons why original inhabitant children are missing out on education.