Sanwo-Olu Launches N34.9bn Education Fund to Tackle Out-of-School Crisis in Lagos

The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has unveiled a ₦34.9 billion outcomes-based education fund aimed at reducing the number of out-of-school children and improving learning standards across the state. 

The announcement was made during the launch of the Lagos Education Access Fund and the inauguration of the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, where the governor outlined new measures to strengthen school attendance and support vulnerable pupils.

Sanwo-Olu stated that the state government would back the initiative with an executive order designed to ensure that parents, communities, and institutions take greater responsibility for keeping school-age children in class. He stressed that children should not be found outside during school hours except for valid reasons, noting that stronger enforcement would help improve compliance.

According to the governor, the programme marks a shift from simply increasing enrollment figures to ensuring that students actually gain skills in literacy and numeracy. He explained that the state, working with the Education Outcomes Fund and other development partners, plans to deploy about $25 million (approximately ₦34.9 billion) to support more than 200,000 children.

The initiative will focus on enrolling over 50,000 out-of-school children between the ages of six and 14 through community outreach and targeted interventions aimed at removing barriers to education. In addition, about 150,000 pupils already in school are expected to benefit from programmes designed to improve learning results and reduce dropout rates.

Sanwo-Olu said the project builds on Project Zero, a state intervention introduced in 2021 to identify and return out-of-school children to formal education. He noted that the programme has already helped more than 36,000 children resume schooling.

The governor added that the government has also supported hundreds of parents and guardians with vocational training in areas such as tailoring, catering, soap making, and hairdressing, explaining that stronger household income helps families keep their children in school.

He further highlighted ongoing investments in education infrastructure, saying the state has constructed more schools and classrooms in the past seven years than were built in the previous two decades, as part of efforts to expand access to quality education.