Despite N100trn budget, out-of-school children in Nigeria rises to 18m – MacArthur Foundation

The MacArthur Foundation has expressed worries that despite the Federal Government’s N100trn budgets from 1999 to 2022, the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria has increased from 10.5m to 18m.

The Foundation’s Deputy Director, Nigeria Office, Dayo Olaide, expressed the feeling at a policy dialogue on situating Constituency Projects in the 2023 Electioneering Campaigns, organised by OrderPaper, an online news platform, in partnership with Budgit and MacArthur Foundation, on Thursday in Abuja.

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Olaide said: “Nigerians when they wake up every morning, they are asking themselves, what does this budget mean for me as a person.”

Also, Country Director, Budgit, Gabriel Okiewu, said despite 469 federal lawmakers, 36 governors, House of Assembly members and local government chairmen and councilors, “it’s so disheartening that people’s needs are not being captured.

“We see that empowerment projects take more than 60% of the N100bn allocation for constituency projects every year,” he said. Okiewu, represented by Adewale Adejola, stressed the need to restore citizen’s confidence in government and democracy.