First agenda on Nigerian education

The country’s education sector under PMB is practically a sham due to the perennial neglect of the sector. I am compelled to lay down some recipe to salvage the situation which is why I refer to this article as the `first agenda’. It is in the interest of the government to act fast on the […]

The country’s education sector under PMB is practically a sham due to the perennial neglect of the sector.

I am compelled to lay down some recipe to salvage the situation which is why I refer to this article as the `first agenda’.

It is in the interest of the government to act fast on the agenda. The government should declare a state of emergency on enrolment of out-of-school children in both the north and south and arrest children seen out of school and take them to school by force. After all, education of children is obligatory, according to the Nigerian constitution and the Child Rights Act.

When evacuated, take them to the so-called Almajiri schools in the north, and to boarding schools in the south. But, if the government does not want to follow the steps taken by the previous administration, then, it should create its own.

Buhari and Adamu Adamu should fear their God and remember the education they got during their childhood days. We know that most Nigerians born between 1930 and 1960 enjoyed free education, free meal, free clothing, free transport fares to and fro  schools, free provisions on resumption of school, and free and regular pocket money et cetera. Buhari Adamu Adamu fall within this age bracket, yet we are hearing reports that more than half of the children of school-age are out of school.

This First Agenda is not difficult to implement.  They should remove all protocols, chains and bureaucracies to pursue my `first agenda’. Create a task force in each state to do it.  You can just do it now and no other time. Just swing into action without ado.

Nigerians will not entertain any excuse for lack of funds. If there is no money to educate the citizens, where did politicians get money to contest elections, to buying SUV’s here and there, and for the president’s foreign trips? Let Buhari and Adamu Adamu check their conscience and swing into action.

I am pretty sure `first agenda’ can be launched, propelled and achieved within six months. It will be a credit to their administration, and can augment Nigeria’s integrity in the comity of nations and rehabilitate the lives of the downtrodden.

What kind of president or education minister would we have gotten if today’s out-of-school children were Buhari and Adamu Adamu of those days?

I believe in the passion and interest of both Buhari and Adamu Adamu as well as their dedication to salvage the education system, yet without these youngsters in school, their efforts have no place for praise and they must account to the victims of school dropouts and the creator in the Hereafter.

I feel sure I can reiterate my call for First Agenda – that every out-of-school Nigerian child, teen or youth, be mobilized back to school. This is only a single act of enforcing the laws of the land.

Ibrahim Shuaibu  is an education activist. [email protected]