The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has rolled out a new educational programme aimed at attracting 10 million Nigerian children to school within the next four years.

UNICEF’s Communication Specialist, Dr Geoffrey Njoku, who made the disclosure in Kano at a two-day media dialogue on the status of implementation of the Child Rights Law across the country noted that the new country programme, which will run from 2023 to 2027, is expected to massively cut down on the alarming out-of-school children rate in Nigeria.

He said that the UN agency efforts saw to enrolment of 1.5 million girls, adding that another 5 million children continued learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Njoku, the new programme “will ensure that the rights of every child in Nigeria especially the most excluded , to survive, thrive, learn, be protected and develop to his or her full potential”.

Speaking on some of the UNICEF interventions in Nigerian health sector, Njoku stated that millions of children were vaccinated through the support of the UN agency.

“ Fifth Eight million children were vaccinated against polio,  we achieved zero dose strategy in 100 local government areas to reach underserved children across 18 states.

“ Twenty Two million children also received two doses of Vitamin A in 2022" said Njoku.