Out-of-school children still a plague

NIGERIA’S out-of-school children crisis is a brutal national emergency. According to UNICEF, the country has about 18.3 million out-of-school children — the highest figure globally. This is a national plague.

UNICEF identified Jigawa, Kano and Katsina as the states with the worst numbers, collectively accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the national burden. This demands urgent, sustained attention.

Some estimates put the broader figure higher. Whether the number is 18 million or higher, the reality is frightening enough.

India has a population far larger than Nigeria’s, yet it has reduced the number of its children roaming the streets without basic education. Countries with huge populations have shown that political will, investment and social mobilisation can dramatically reduce illiteracy and school exclusion.

Why then is Nigeria failing so woefully?

Nigeria’s growing army of children without academic tutelage is no longer a time bomb waiting to explode. It is already a cancer metastasising across the country.

In April, Nigerians watched in horror as a viral video emerged from Borno State showing a 15-year-old boy, Tijjani, arrested with nearly N1 million, reportedly meant for food supplies for terrorists. The teenager allegedly confessed to participating in attacks, including one that killed an Army general.

Weeks earlier, another disturbing video showed boys even younger than Tijjani wielding assault rifles in terrorist camps deep inside forests.

Those videos are the predictable consequence of allowing millions of children to roam the streets, instead of sitting in classrooms.

Children denied education become vulnerable to manipulation, indoctrination, trafficking, banditry and terrorism.

Terror groups and criminal networks know this. They recruit from hopelessness.

What are the governors of the worst-hit states doing while children are being groomed into threats against society? Some of these minors are turned into fighters, informants and even suicide bombers.

In March, suicide bomb attacks in Maiduguri killed 23 people and wounded 108 others.

Increasingly, children are becoming both victims and weapons in Nigeria’s insecurity crisis.

Ironically, the children of these governors are not among the almajiri hordes wandering the streets. They are not in terrorist camps or carrying rifles in forests. Their children attend elite schools in Abuja, London, Dubai and America.

Yet, they, too, are not safe, because insecurity eventually consumes everyone. Today’s neglected children can become the existential threats of tomorrow.

Northern Nigeria once had leaders who understood the importance of education. The late Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, invested heavily in schools and human development.

Sadly, many succeeding leaders abandoned that vision.

Across Nigeria today, public schools have become monuments to neglect. Some lack desks, chairs, doors, windows and writing boards.

In some communities, children still learn under trees while governors collect billions in monthly security votes and maintain lavish lifestyles.

Certainly, insecurity has worsened school attendance. Kidnappings and attacks on schools have forced many parents to keep their children at home. But a determined political class can confront this menace with seriousness if it truly wishes to.

Unfortunately, Nigeria’s response has often bordered on the absurd. Security chiefs describe terrorists as “our brothers” or “prodigal sons.”

Some governors negotiate questionable amnesty deals, pamper so-called repentant bandits and celebrate hollow peace agreements.

Recently, reports emerged about the release of supposedly “deradicalised” terrorists back into society. Such approaches embolden criminality instead of ending it.

Cultural resistance to Western education also remains a challenge in some areas. Yet deeply religious countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait have demonstrated that faith and modern education are not enemies.

Saudi Arabia has invested massively in universities, digital learning and scholarship programmes.

Qatar hosts globally respected institutions through Education City and maintains one of the highest literacy rates in the Arab world.

Kuwait continues to subsidise education and healthcare for citizens.

Norway and Finland have nearly zero out-of-school children because education is treated as a sacred national priority.

Finland offers free education, school meals, learning materials and strong teacher training.

Norway heavily funds public education and child welfare systems to ensure no child is left behind. These nations do not merely build schools; they build futures.

Obafemi Awolowo, the premier of the defunct Western Region, left a legacy in these regards.

Nigeria must learn from these examples. Education must become genuinely free and heavily subsidised.

France, for instance, recently unveiled food subsidies for undergraduates. Each undergraduate will eat at the school canteen for €1 instead of €3.30 before the subsidies. The French government understands hungry children cannot learn effectively. Nigeria must do the same for its children.

Governors, clerics and traditional leaders must aggressively promote education.

This plague is not confined to northern Nigeria. Southern states must not become complacent. Though the numbers may be lower, out-of-school children exist across the country.

Every Nigerian child denied education represents a danger to national stability and a betrayal of the country’s future.

Nigeria should urgently depopulate the almajiri army. Every child has a right to education, dignity and hope.

This plague must be eradicated.