Follow Us on Google
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently warned that Nigeria’s estimated 15 million out-of-school children are potential Boko Haram insurgents in the next 15 years, if allowed to continue to roam the streets. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also says that Nigeria has the highest out-of-school children in the world.
Obasanjo gave the timely warning at the 2022 Murtala Muhammed Foundation Annual Lecture in Abuja, entitled: “Beyond Boko Haram: Addressing insurgency, banditry and kidnapping across Nigeria.” He disclosed that his visit to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, was an eye-opener on the danger posed by the fundamentalists, while observing that anger and actions of the sect stemmed largely from lack of education, unemployment and poverty.
According to Obasanjo, these factors have made out-of-school children ready tools for recruitment into the sect that unleash their pent-up frustrations on the country. Out of the 15 million, children between five and 14 years are out of school, and only 61 per cent of six to 11 year olds attend primary school and only 35.6 per cent of children between 36 and 69 months receive early childhood education.
Consequently, to avoid making the out-of-school children vulnerable targets of Boko Haram terrorists, Obasanjo advised the government to get the children educated and create jobs for them rather than wasting resources on the provision of unsustainable palliatives. He said: “The issue of banditry and armed robbery started immediately after the civil war because people could have access to weapons, and we have not come out of it since then. It has been growing from bad to worse.” While Obasanjo believes that it does not matter how the government claims to be dealing with Boko Haram, bandits, and kidnapping, he contends that as long as millions of children are out of school in the country, they will be nurturing the Boko Haram of tomorrow.
Obasanjo’s warning should not be ignored. It is indeed a wake-up call on our leaders to bring these children into the school system and prevent them from being recruited by terror groups. Obasanjo’s warning is in tandem with concerns expressed by other prominent individuals and organisations. For instance, in 2019, UNICEF raised the alarm over the growing number of children outside the school system and the attendant risks, especially in the North East region. Recently, UNICEF repeated the call for an end to the recruitment and use of children by armed groups in the country. The UNICEF Field Officer in Maiduguri, Phuong T. Nguyen, who made the call, regretted that many child soldiers in the North East region are out-of-school children.
The concerns expressed by Obasanjo, UNICEF and other stakeholders on the present danger posed by out-of-school children in the country should not be trifled with. They must be addressed immediately by the government before it is too late. In fact, 13 years of armed conflict in the North East and elsewhere in the Northern region has claimed thousands of lives and disrupted essential services for children and their families. Most of the out-of-school children are among Internally Displaced Persons in the North East. Their situation has been made even worse by rising poverty, hunger and unemployment.
The Federal Government should enforce laws that bar children from being recruited as child soldiers by terror groups and others. Beyond that, government should muster the political will to tackle unemployment, poverty and insecurity. Above all, the government must ensure that the 15 million children are enrolled in schools, at least to reduce the menace of street begging, and prevent them from being recruited as child soldiers. This is time to revisit the Almajiri integrated school model introduced by the Goodluck Jonathan administration and aimed at giving special education to out-of-school children. It is unfortunate that the programme was disbanded by the present administration on flimsy excuses.
