By Pwanagba Agabus, Jos
The Federal Government has engaged critical stakeholders towards the commencement of its At-Risk-Children Programme (ARC-P) in Nasarawa and Niger States.
It also said that the project is aimed at addressing the challenge of out-of-school children and other socio-economic menaces currently bedevilling the country.
Consultant in-charge of the project,
Mr Suleiman Murkthar, disclosed this to journalists in an interview in Jos, the Plateau State Capital.
He said, ”ARC-P is an initiative of the federal government designed to comprehensively address cross-cutting concerns of children and young adults at risk thereby providing them with a life of hope and dignity.
”This programme which is a crucial component of government’s poverty reduction with growth strategy seeks to, among other things, instill a sense of belonging, good values and a passion for hard work and service in children and youth exposed to diverse form of vulnerability
”Before now, a lot of work has been done in line with the programme’s coordination strategy at the national level, which includes training of educated youth who reside in the communities, across many spheres of endeavor, to be assigned the responsibility of training, mentoring and monitoring the out of school children in their vicinity after securing parental consent
”So, we organised this social dialogue with key stakeholders to discuss priority settings of the project and its over all impact,” he said.
Murkthar explained that the project is anchored on seven pillars, which include; basic literacy and numeracy, health and nutrition, Entrepreneurial, Financial literacy and Vocational skills.
Others, he said were; creativity and digital skills, agriculture, environment and climate change, security, sports and life skills and incentive interventions for caregivers and gatekeepers.
He further stated that participants at the meeting were drawn from the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), community leaders, Almajiri Children and their teachers among others
Recall that, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, whose office implements the ARC-P, through the Special Advisor to the President on Social Investments, had on February 10th, 2022 inaugurated the programme in Abuja.
