A file photo of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq.

The Federal government has stated that the challenge of out-of-school children is not only a northern problem.

At a briefing of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, the coordinator of the National Social Investment program, Dr. Umar Bindr, said that in the Makoko area of Lagos alone, there are 7,000 out-of-school children.

According to him, similar situations are also present in Enugu and Jos.

Minister Sadiya Umar Farouq said there are over 10 million out-of-school children in the country.

The minister equally disclosed that there are now 46 million Nigerians on the National Social Register.

She said the conditional N5,000 intervention strategy to the poor and vulnerable has helped to lift more Nigerians out of poverty.

Speaking also on the exit programme for N-Power Programme, the minister said that government has a plan of putting about 300,000 applicants on a training programme while the Central Bank of Nigeria will provide the loans.