By Olawale Kolawole, Abeokuta
Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, has said that the issue of Almajiri and out-of-school children is a national challenge that needs to be addressed before it gets out of control.
Abiodun stated this on Thursday when he received members of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children's Education, who paid him a courtesy call in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
The governor described the issue of Almajiri and out-of-school children in the country as a volcano waiting to erupt.
According to Governor Abiodun, the high number of out-of-school children calls for concern, as they could easily be manipulated to cause havoc in the country.
He said: "The issue of Almajiri is a national challenge. It is not a challenge for a section of this country, but a national challenge. The National Security Adviser and I sat down to discuss this issue, and we deliberated on what actionable steps can be taken that are implementable, breaking them down into immediate, medium to long-term, and sustainable steps to ensure that we collectively deal with the issue, which I described as a volcanic eruption that we can't see now, that appears dormant, but is very viable.
"The last time we had protests, we saw an unusually high number of protests, significantly from the north. When you look at those protesters, they were Almajiri children. It was obvious that they didn't have a clue about what they were doing. Some of them were carrying Russian flags, which means that they didn't understand what that means. They were tools in the hands of manipulators, willing and ready tools in the hands of manipulators who probably gave them a meal or something meager, and they were ready to go for it.
"This is a very sad development in the history of this nation, and this is a result of years of neglect of the situation. My position is that we can successfully tackle it. This will be one of President Bola Tinubu's best legacies. It will be an enduring legacy, and I know that the President, under his Renewed Hope vision, is very passionate about ensuring that he reduces the number of Almajiri and out-of-school children to an absolute minimum.
"I assure you that, as the governor of Ogun State and the Chairman of the Southern Governors' Forum (SGF), we will do our best to address this issue, even though we have a lower number of out-of-school children in the south."
He attributed the high number of out-of-school children in the state to a large student population due to the influx of people from other parts of the country coming to work or live in the state, adding that his administration is taking steps to address the situation.
"When you look at statistics, it shows that Ogun State has an unusually high percentage of out-of-school children in the southwest. In the primary sector, it shows 10.3 percent, compared to the southwest region's 6.2 percent. In junior secondary school, we have 12.1 percent, compared to 8.5 percent in the southwest average. In senior secondary, we have 20.9 percent, compared to 19.2 percent average in the southwest.
"But you know, statistics at times can be misleading, so when you look at the number of students we have in Ogun State compared to the number of students in, for example, a state like Ekiti, and you see Ekiti showing a lower number of out-of-school children, you can begin to understand why ours is high because we have by far more students than some of these states combined.
"That itself is not an excuse, but it is something to ensure that we deliberately begin to work in order to reduce this to the barest minimum. That means we are also interested parties in view of what we are going through in our state," he submitted.
He said his administration would provide the Commission with office accommodation as well as provide a focal person to liaise with its officials to meet the objective of addressing the out-of-school children menace.
The governor said that as the Chairman of SGF, he would liaise with his colleagues to replicate similar commission in their various states.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Alternative Education, Hon. Almustapha Rabah, said Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children after Pakistan and India, urging all hands to be on deck to address the issue.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Muhammad Idris, disclosed that Nigeria has about 30 million Almajiri roaming the streets as a result of the irresponsibility of their parents.
He said the Almajiri, apart from constituting a nuisance, are manipulated and recruited into banditry, while some are made to join terrorist gangs, thus posing a security challenge to the nation.
He called for the cooperation of the southern governors to address the issue, as no part of the country is safe when the future of the children is not guaranteed.
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