Atiku advocates stiffer measures to reduce the number of out of school children which Nigeria tops globally
The impact of out of school children is manifesting in the escalating security situation, especially in the North, where former Almajiris, deprived of western education or vocation, are now bandits.
For the former vice-president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, the government must compel parents to enroll their children and wards in school.
According to a Premium Times report, Atiku said the same energy with which the country persuades Nigerians to vaccinate against infectious diseases such as polio and the coronavirus pandemic, should be deployed to ensure that parents enroll their children and wards in schools.
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The Nigerian government mandated workers in the public sector to get COVID-19 vaccination or risk losing their jobs. The measure has driven the vaccination rate high.
Atiku recalled that his father was once jailed by local authorities for refusing to enroll him in school as a young boy.
He then suggested that “parents should be persuaded, even forced, to send their children to school so they, at least, acquire basic education.”
He said such is the only way to cut down considerably the country’s growing figure of out-of-school children, which he put at more than 13 million.
Atiku gave the advice in his lecture at the weekend during the convocation ceremonies of Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State, where he spoke on the theme; “Diversity, Education and Autonomy: Developing Nigeria in the Years Ahead.”
He said; “We persuade parents to vaccinate their children against infectious diseases because vaccination is a good thing. Why don’t we do the same for education? Parents should be persuaded, even forced, to send their children to school so they, at least, acquire basic education. That basic education should be free and compulsory.
“I believe that if there are severe consequences for parents who refuse to send their children to have free primary and secondary education, we would not have over 13 million out-of-school children in Nigeria. Certainly not. Our per capita income would not have stagnated for 40 years. Think about it, our per capita income is today what it was forty years ago.”
