Security implication of Nigeria’s 13.2 million out-of-school children

By Grace Atim

According to the United Nations, out-of -school children (OOSC) are defined as those kids who are yet to be enrolled in formal education excluding pre-primary school. The age range for out-of-school children is 6-11 years.

The UN Convention on The Rights of the Child (1989) has in its preamble that; “…Mankind owes to the child the best it has to give.”

This landmark legal instrument is all encompassing international bill of rights for children. It defines protection, and commits states to ensuring protection, promotion, participation.

However, in Nigeria it is glaring that issues of child education and protection are not taken seriously. According to a UNESCO Statistic Institute (2016) report, Nigeria is said to have the highest number of out-of -school children in the world with 8.7, followed by Pakistan (5.6), India 2.9, Sudan 2.7, Ethiopia 2.1, and Indonesia 2.0. In spite the existence of legal International and national instruments that have provisions for compulsory and qualitative education for all children. This   further reinforces government’s obligation to ensure education by provisions of the Nigeria 1999 Constitution as Amended in its chapter 2, Section 18 … Educational Objectives thus;

Government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate education opportunities at all levels. Promote free, compulsory and universal primary education at all levels.

 There have been attempts to address the issue of OOSC through school enrolment and retention, other states such as Delta, Oyo, Osun, Sokoto and Lagos have put in place policies that parents will now face appropriate sanctions in accordance with the law for refusing to send their children to school.

A cursory appraisal of the situation of child education shows that little progress has been made with regards to provision of Basic Education through the Universal Basic Education Programme (UBEC). But a lot still needs to be done in that direction.

Although, the problem of Out-of -school children is global, Nigeria’s share is quite very with a staggering figure of 13.2 million, UNICEF Report (2018).  The UNESCO Institute for Statistic (UIS 2014), stated that worldwide nearly 58 million children of primary school age were out-of-school in year 2012.

 The Executive Secretary UBEC, Hamid Bobboyi stated that the number of out-of -school children increased from 10.5 million to 13.2 million, between 2010 to 2015. While the Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu, in January, 2018 disclosed that the number of out-of-school children in the country dropped from 10.5 million to 8.6 million in the last three years.

UNICEF’s Deputy Representative in Nigeria, Ms Pernille Ironside stated that Nigeria has 10.5 million aged 6-14, out-of-school children. 69% per cent of the OOSC are located in the Northern part of the country, with Bauchi state having the highest number of  1.1 million children of the out-of- school children, followed by Katsina state with 781.500.

This   figure is traceable to the fact that deep rooted socio- cultural, economic, and environmental barriers, cost of education and negative perception to formal education especially in most parts of northern Nigeria. And the perception that education is disempowering, wasteful, negates the wave of get rich quick syndrome dominate in the south east. 

The escalating violence and recurrent attacks on schools and hospitals has severely disrupted the right of Nigerian children to education which Malala, Yousafzai (2013), advocated thus;

“… Education is our right, I said. Just as it is our right to sing. Islam has given us this right and says every girl and boy should go to school. The Quran says we should seek knowledge, study hard and learn the mysteries of our world.”

The pertinent question is, what future awaits children in a country that have been ravaged by an array  of conflicts ranging from armed robbery, kidnapping, abduction, attacks on schools/hospitals, ethno-religious crisis, political violence, farmer/herder conflicts.

Sadly, the Nigerian child is at the centre of this violence, being subjected to all manner of abuse and neglect, ranging from maiming and killing, sexual abuse, forced and exploitative labour, forced recruitment and use by armed groups for suicide attacks and as combatants, and trafficking etc.

Although, the Child Rights Act was passed into law in the year 2003, to protect and promote the rights of the Nigerian Child, but as at 2018, only 24 out of the 36 states have domesticated it.

However, a situation analysis by Geoffrey Njoku, UNICEF Communication Specialist identified gaps in accessing to qualitative education to poor implementation of policies and laws.

The security implication in all of this is that, there will be a never ending story of militancy, insurgency, armed robbery, kidnapping, drug abuse and trafficking, political thugs, etc in the country. Owing to the fact that, a teaming number of illiterate, unemployable, young and poor out-of-school children who have no value for education are readily available for use in any criminal activity.  This serves as a ‘time bomb ‘waiting to explode if not strategically, systematically and urgently addressed.

In finding durable solution to the problem of OOSC, it is essential to address issues such as forced displacement, insecurity, unemployment, dilapidated state of educational facilities across the country, drug abuse, forced/early marriages, street hawking, use of children for alms, use of children as political thugs, use of children for exploitative labour etc.

Parents should be sensitized particularly the rural and non-literate ones about the value of education, Federal government as a matter of urgency should declare a holistic state of Emergency in the education sector.

Government should ensure education is more accessible to all children as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC 1989) in its article 28: that;

“Children have the right to education. Primary education should be free and compulsory. Secondary education should be accessible to every child. Higher education should be available to all on the basis of capacity. School discipline shall be consistent with the child’s right and dignity.

Grace Atim is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Abuja.