Oyo state has the highest number of out-of-school children among states in Southwest, Nigeria, the 2018 National Personnel Audit for Primary School has shown.
With 418,900 out-of-school children in Oyo, the state with others make the total number of out of school children in the country to be 10, 193, 918 as at 2018, according to the report.
Kano, Akwa Ibom, Katsina and Kaduna states have emerged tops on the list of states with the highest number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.
While Kano State emerged tops with 989, 234 population of out-of-school children, Akwa Ibom has 581, 800 to come second, Katsina has 536, 122 to come third and Kaduna has 524, 670 to come fourth.
Taraba is fifth with 499, 923 out-of-school children, followed by Sokoto, 436, 570; Yobe, 427, 230; Zamfara, 422, 214.
But the state with the least number of out-of-school children is Ekiti with 50, 945; followed by Bayelsa, 53, 079; Enugu, 82, 051; and Kwara, 84, 247.
A breakdown of the figures is contained in the Short and Medium Term Blueprint/Work Plan on the implementation of Education for Change: A Ministerial Strategic Plan (MSP) document obtained by The Nation in Abuja.
The document estimated that the number of out-of-school children at the end of five years (2018-2023) would be 193, 918.
To achieve this (193,918), the government said it has launched intervention programmes aimed at reducing the rate of out-of-school children in Nigeria by 2, 000, 000 every year for the next five years.
Meanwhile in Oyo state, the Seyi Makinde-led government has also introduced free education at public schools to encourage more children back to classroom.
