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Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said Nigeria’s out-of-school children could quickly turn into bandits if the government does not get them back into the classroom.
Mr Akpabio said this during the plenary session on Wednesday, commenting on a report to address the challenges of out-of-school children in the country.
“The problem of out-of-school children is one of the most important and major causes of anxiety in this country. 20 million children are out of school, which means that the problem of out-of-school children is one of the most important and causes of concern in this country. It’s a ticking time bomb for the place.
“If we can solve the problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria, there are over 20 million children out of school, they are potential bandits and a great danger,” Akpabio said. .
The number of Nigerian children out of school is increasing every year. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 10.5 million children will be out of school in Africa’s most populous country in 2023.
According to UNICEF’s latest report released in August, the number of infections has increased to 18.3 million, with most of the outbreaks occurring in the north of the country.
The Senate President expressed concern in plenary that out-of-school children could occupy politicians’ homes in a counterattack.
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“You can send your children to Cambridge, you can send them to Harvard, but they can’t go back home. You can stay here as a senator, but your home is occupied by bandits. Some of my colleagues who are now pastors have not been to some places in Borno for five years. They built houses and then abandoned them.
“It started with this truancy issue. So, allow us to discuss this. It’s a very big issue,” he added.
fear of death
Mr Akpabio also expressed concern that out-of-school children could attack politicians’ children if they did not return to the classroom.
“You have children who have been through everything and can’t come back from abroad and die without knowing why, because they grew up on this. They’re dying because you didn’t do the basics. You kept your neighbor’s kids out of school.”
Students in a flooded classroom
Akpabio also said he was aware that some students were attending classes sitting on the floor or in flooded classrooms.
He said Congress needs to compile a report on such scenarios for proper study before giving final consideration.
“We need to retreat. We need to have a round table with all the stakeholders because I know that in some states children are sitting on the floor to receive their education in elementary school. There is.
“And in some states that I saw, kids were sitting in the water. They brought chairs from their homes, their classrooms were flooded, so they put the chairs in the water, and they sat there and taught them.” I am receiving
“So we would like to see such reports and discuss them. I would like to give particular attention to these facilities and focus on improving the plight of children.” he said.
Akpabio said the problem of out-of-school children will continue to persist until proper oversight is established.
“I would say it’s not enough just to check that plan unless we have a proper oversight function and we can go to an elementary school here or somewhere and check that plan. We didn’t do that. So it’s everyone’s fault.”
Akpabio becomes governor
The Senate President said he secured free compulsory education during his Akwa Ibom governorship.
“When I was governor, I declared free compulsory education for all Nigerian children who found work abroad and paid all their obligations including welfare and state fees. And they were doing educational monitoring from 8 o’clock in the morning. If they saw a child wandering around, they would pick up the child and go and arrest the parent or guardian. is sentenced to six months’ imprisonment.
“So, if we can replicate that nationally, I think we can solve the problem. With the influx of students, we had to build over 6,000 new classroom blocks,” Akpabio said.
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