UNICEF has called for more investments in Nigeria’s primary education.

Michael Banda, UNICEF’s education manager in Kano, made the call on Thursday in Zaria during a media dialogue on children’s advocacy priorities for News and Programme Managers from Kano and Katsina States as well as Jigawa.

According to Mr Banda, more investments are still needed in the primary school sub-sector, adding that the country still faces the challenge of universal enrollment.

“So, the first problem with education in Nigeria is spending too little money on education. Nigeria is spending 1.2 per cent of its GDP on education. The international benchmark is four to six per cent, and even the available funds are not being spent well,” he said.

Mr Banda said a huge amount of money was being spent on higher education, adding,  “When children in primary school cannot read, write and count. We need to get the budget right and increase the volume of expenditure, the country needs to improve the efficiency of expenditure on primary education.“

Mr Banda expressed concern with the rate of out-of-school children, and low learning achievement in the country, especially in the North-West.

“Nigeria’s education system is faced with the twin crises of a large and growing out-of-school population and severe learning poverty.

“One in three children is out of school (OOS), 10.2 million at primary school level and 8.1 million children at junior secondary level,” he said.

On number of teachers, Mr Banda explained that insufficient domestic financing resulted in a shortfall of 378,000 classrooms and approximately 278,000 teachers.

Samuel Kaalu, UNICEF communication officer in Kano, said the objective of the media dialogue was to engage journalists on children’s advocacy priorities.

He added that the media dialogue was also to create awareness for the media on the importance of the first 1,000 days to a child’s survival and other UNICEF activities.

(NAN)