Very Sad!10 million Northern Children Out Of School

A new statistics has shown the alarming rate of out-of-school children in Nigeria at 11 million and the northern part of the country account for a whopping 90% of that figure. 


This disturbing figure was drawn to the attention of Nigerians by the the Bayero University Kano (BUK) Alumni Association on Thursday July 30. The association 

expressed shock over the figure while calling the federal government to as matter of urgency to declare a state of emergency in the sector.
The Punch reported that the ex-students of BUK said that such declaration become necessary to draw government’s attention to the sad state of country education sector pointing out this will make it possible for the government to implement free and compulsory  primary and secondary education.
This, they stated, is in line with best practices worldwide.
The president and vice-president of BUK Alumni Association, Dattijo Usman and  Dr. Nazifi Darma made this call in an interview with newsmen ahead of its fund-raising dinner scheduled for Saturday in Abuja.
Usman pleaded with the 19 governors of the northern states to take urgent steps to address the menace of Almajiri and hawkers to reduce social vices as well as insurgency.
He said: “Recent statistics have shown that 11 million children are not in school. The trend is increasing because out of this figure, 90 per cent (about 9.9 million) of them come from the North. It is our duty to draw the attention of policy makers and the National Assembly to ensure the implementation of UNESCO policy.
“Out of school cases are responsible for insurgency and Boko Haram. All these cosmetic Almajiri schools will not help matters. A state of emergency should be declared in education and all children of school age should be compelled to go to school.
“The government must ensure that children go to primary and secondary schools. It happened in other countries and Nigeria should not be an exception. We must do it here in Nigeria and every child must go to school, beginning from the primary and secondary levels.
“We are worried by this Almajiri menace. In fact, the 19 northern states governors should do something to reduce the trend. We hope to reach the governors. It is the responsibility of everyone of us to ensure that the future is better than our past.”
The immediate past administration of  President Goodluck Jonathan was reported to have build Almajiri schools across the northern states with the aim of providing integrated education that would comprise basic western education alongside Islamic education as a means of reducing the level of illiteracy in the North.