By Chris Ochayi
Former Vice President in the second republic, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, yesterday expressed concern over the escalating numbers of children out of schools in Nigeria, vowing to lead a lobby group to encourage government to increase funding  of the  sector.

Dr. Ekwueme, who stated this yesterday on the occasion of donation of 200 books, worth over N250, 000 to Government Secondary School, GSS, Garki,  Abuja, donated by Alex Ekwueme Foundation, regretted that the number of children enrolment continued to dwindle over the years.

Prominent dignitaries who witnessed the occasion include the Chairman, Board of Trustees, BOT, Alex Ekwueme Foundation, Ambassador Matthew Mbu, member BOT, Olowo of Owo, Oba Olateru Olagbegi, and Senator Kariat Gwadabe

He recalled that the 2006 national schools’ census showed that about six million Nigerian children, aged 6 to 11 years, had no access to primary education, while the UNESCO reports in 2009 put the number of children out of school in Nigeria at six million.

Dr. Ekwueme said the 2010 report by the global campaign for education claimed that over 8 million children in Nigeria were out of school.