ABUJA — In a renewed push to curb the growing number of out-of-school children in Nigeria’s underserved border regions, the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) has pledged to strengthen collaboration with the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA) to ensure inclusive and equitable access to education across over 3,000 remote communities.
This was revealed following a courtesy visit by the Executive Secretary of BCDA, Dr. Dax Alabo George-Kelly, to the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja, where critical discussions were held on enhancing education and basic social services for Nigeria’s border populations.
Nigeria shares land and coastal borders with countries such as Benin, Cameroon, and Niger, covering 21 states and hosting millions of citizens in difficult-to-reach areas. These communities, despite experiencing rapid population growth, continue to suffer from inadequate access to education, healthcare, clean water, and sanitation.
Highlighting the urgency of the situation, the Ministry disclosed that an estimated 22 million children reside within these border settlements, many of whom remain out of school due to poor infrastructure, insecurity, and geographical isolation.
In line with Point 3 of the Ministry’s six-point agenda, which prioritizes reducing the number of out-of-school children and reintegrating them into the education system, the Ministry emphasized that inter-agency synergy is critical to ensuring targeted, non-duplicative interventions.
“No man is an island. It is through collaboration that meaningful change occurs. Education remains central to the development of every sector of the economy,” said the Minister. “We are committed to working closely with the BCDA to align on key interventions—especially those focused on Almajiri education, school rehabilitation, teacher deployment, and provision of learning materials.”
Dr. George-Kelly, in his remarks, reaffirmed BCDA’s commitment to transforming border communities through sustainable development programmes and welcomed the Ministry’s willingness to foster a unified strategy.
The visit concluded with a mutual agreement to establish a joint technical working group that will focus on scaling up school access in hard-to-reach areas, coordinating resource allocation, and monitoring implementation outcomes.
The Federal Government reiterated that addressing educational exclusion in border communities is vital to achieving universal basic education, reducing child poverty, and strengthening national security.