-
NGO blames weak governance, underfunding, systemic gaps.
-
Calls for institutionalised school feeding as key intervention.
-
Warns education crisis threatens human capital and development.
ActionAid Nigeria has revealed that about 15 million children remain out of school across the country despite years of intervention efforts.
Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu, disclosed this on Friday at the National Policy Forum on the Institutionalisation and Implementation of Home-Grown School Feeding Programme held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Mamedu said the crisis in the education sector was not caused by lack of effort but by weak governance, underfunding, and systemic gaps that continue to undermine progress.
He noted that too many children still go to school hungry, stressing that the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme remains a proven tool to keep children in classrooms and improve learning outcomes.
According to him, Nigeria’s Human Capital Index score of 0.36 means a child born today will achieve only 36% of their potential if nothing changes.
He cited data showing enrolment in basic education rose from 35 million in 2018 to 40 million in 2022, yet the number of out-of-school children jumped from 9.1 million in 2000 to 14.6 million in 2020, reaching 15 million in 2025.
Mamedu explained that ActionAid, through its partnerships and projects, has supported school feeding reforms, improved accountability, and empowered communities, pointing to Kaduna State as an example where 400 schools benefited from reforms supported by the MacArthur Foundation.
READ ALSO: Durojaiye Ogunsaya: Tinubu’s Went to Chicago University – Schoolmate
He described the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme as not only a nutrition scheme but also an education, economic, social protection, and nation-building strategy capable of reducing inequality and strengthening development.
