By Funmilayo Adeyemi
Abuja – The Albino Foundation is seeking the collaboration of the Federal Government to establish the accurate data of out-of-school children in the country.
Mr Jake Ekpele, President of the foundation stated this on Wednesday when he led its execuitve on a working visit to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry Education, Mr Sonny Echono in Abuja.
Ekpele noted that ascertaining the exact number of children would help government and relevant stakeholders design strategies to eradicate the problem to manageable proportion.
He said that the foundation has the capacity to bring out the accurate data of out-of-school children in the affected states in less than three months if given the opportunity.
Responding, the Permanent Secretary, Sonny Echono acknowledged the foundation’s effort in partnering with government to win the war on out-of-school children.
The Permanent Secretary emphasised the importance of funding in performing such data collection, adding that the ministry was constrained by inadequate budgetary allocations to implement a complete census.
Echono urged the leadership to send in the foundation proposals for harmonisation with other stakeholders who have also shown interest in partnership
. (NAN)