By Abubakar Yunusa
Former Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, on Friday called for urgent action by government and society to address what he described as the growing neglect of the African boy child.
Aregbesola warned that Nigeria’s future could be endangered if millions of young boys remain abandoned and deprived of education.
He spoke in Abuja while delivering a lecture as Special Guest of Honour at the maiden AfriCultural Fashion Show and Awards organised by Global Awareness for Development Initiatives.
Speaking on the theme of empowering the African boy child, the former minister said that although advocacy for the girl child remained important, the challenges confronting boys must not be ignored.
According to him, society places enormous expectations on boys to grow into responsible men but often fails to provide them with the emotional and economic support needed for healthy development.
“The boy child floats and sinks in a society that has largely failed him but expects him to be a good citizen, a patriot and a nationalist,” Aregbesola said.
He lamented that many boys, especially those from poor homes, are forced to shoulder responsibilities far beyond their age, often abandoning their education to support their families.
The former governor of Osun State described Nigeria’s out-of-school children crisis as a major threat to long-term national stability.
Aregbesola said millions of boys could be seen on the streets of major cities such as Abuja hawking goods, begging for alms or cleaning car windshields in traffic just to survive.
“The more tragic part for all of us is that here in Nigeria, there are about twenty million of those kids out of school roaming our villages, towns and cities,” he said.
He warned that a society with a large population of neglected and uneducated youths risks producing adults who may drift into crime, drug abuse or dangerous migration in search of survival.
To address the crisis, Aregbesola urged Nigerians to hold leaders accountable for providing free and quality education for every child.
He described education as a fundamental social investment and advocated free schooling from basic level to pre-degree stages, with affordable university education for ordinary Nigerians.
Reflecting on his tenure as governor, he said his administration implemented several initiatives aimed at expanding access to education and empowering young people.
According to him, the policies included free schooling, school feeding for about 150,000 elementary pupils, distribution of uniforms and construction of modern school facilities capable of accommodating thousands of students.
He also cited youth empowerment initiatives such as the Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (O-YES), which created job opportunities for unemployed youths.
Aregbesola added that character-building programmes were introduced in schools to promote discipline, courage and integrity among students.
He warned Nigeria’s political and economic elite that they could not isolate themselves from the consequences of societal neglect.
“If the boy child in Nigeria has no future worthy to live in, no other citizen can hope for a better future,” he said.
The former minister therefore urged Nigerians to work collectively towards building a society anchored on social justice and humanism, stressing that securing the future of both boys and girls remained vital to national development.
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