Top UBEC, UNICEF officials with some school children during the ceremony on Thursday.
By Anietie Akpan
Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pst. Umo Bassey Eno, has reaffirmed his administration’s determination to ensure that no child in the State is left out of school as education is a life changer.
The Governor who said this during the flag-off of the 2025/2026 South-South Regional Enrollment Drive and Campaign to Reduce Out-of-School Children (OOSC), held on Thursday, 4th September, 2025, at Christ the King Model Primary School, Uyo, declared that, “neither the circumstance of one’s birth nor economic status should foreclose a child’s legitimate right to quality education”.
Represented by the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ubong Umoh, the Governor described education as “a life-changing tool capable of lifting children out of poverty and securing the state’s future”.
Governor Eno was full of praises to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the initiative and commended the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for their collaboration in tackling the menace of out-of-school children, describing the effort as critical to Nigeria’s growth and to the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 (inclusive and equitable quality education for all).
”Here in Akwa Ibom State, we have intentionally approached the issue of out-of-school children holistically. That is why we have sustained the free education policy from primary to secondary level, constructed model schools with modern facilities, provided free books, uniforms and shoes, retrained our teachers, and recruited hundreds of new ones equipped with modern teaching techniques.”
He further noted that the initiative had boosted school enrollment in the State within two years, highlighting ongoing construction of 31 model schools across all local government areas, with 12 already completed and 19 at various stages of execution, alongside the establishment of world-class model secondary schools across the three senatorial districts in the State.
The event, organized by UBEC in collaboration with UNICEF, marked the first regional flag-off of the campaign in the South-South zone. It brought together education stakeholders, traditional leaders, unions, and civil society representatives, all lending their voices to the urgent call for children’s enrollment, retention, and completion of basic education.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, the Akwa Ibom State Chairman of Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Rt. Hon. Anietie Etuk, expressed his excitement for the organizers bringing the initiative to Akwa Ibom State and thanked them for making the state their destination of choice and promised to push the enrollment drive as part of the strategies towards reducing Out-of-school children in the State.
In her goodwill message, Nneka, a representative of UNICEF, reiterated the organization’s commitment to supporting governments across Nigeria in ensuring that every child enrolls, remains, completes, and successfully transits within the education system.
Additionally, UBEC’s Secretary, Aisha Garba, represented by Barr. Ibrahim Gold, stressed that one of the commission’s statutory responsibilities under the UBE Act 2024 is to ensure that all categories of children, regardless of socio-economic status, are given access to quality education. She explained that UBEC and UNICEF had jointly developed a Framework of Action on Out-of-School Children, serving as a roadmap for innovative enrollment campaigns, best practices, and state-led interventions.
Other stakeholders in their separate goodwill messages during the event, raised concerns and made appeals. Amongst them, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) chairman, applauded the campaign but called for more recruitment of teachers alongside enrollment efforts.
National Committee of School-Based Management chairman, urged state governments to deepen investments in education.
Akwa Ibom State Secondary Education Board Chairperson, Ekaette Okon, charged teachers to take personal responsibility for molding children.
Chairman, Akwa Ibom State Technical School Board, Godwin Udom, pointed to poverty, culture, and environment as major drivers of out-of-school children, noting that the state government was tackling these issues.
Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Akwa Ibom State Chairman, Comrade Nsibiet John, appealed to the Federal Government to pay special attention to rural schools and urged teachers to instill discipline, warning that poorly trained children could become societal menaces.
UBEC Member, Mallam Adamu, expressed gratitude to Governor Eno for building model schools across local governments, while stressing that enrollment drives were only a means to the greater end of achieving quality education for all.
Highpoint of the event was the distribution of free school uniforms, bags, and books to newly enrolled pupils as part of efforts to encourage enrollment and retention, and a strong directive that no school in Akwa Ibom should collect money from children registering for admission. Any Head Teacher found culpable, officials warned, would be sanctioned and demoted back to classroom teaching.
With over 20 million out-of-school children nationwide, the UBEC/UNICEF initiative launched in Uyo for the South-South, aims to drastically reduce the numbers by combining Federal policy with State-led innovations and community-driven advocacy.
