Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has called for urgent action on the country’s out-of-school children crisis, warning that they risk being recruited by Boko Haram terrorists.
Speaking on Tuesday at the inauguration of the Bakhita ICT Centre in Sokoto, Obasanjo described the neglect of the country’s estimated 24 million out-of-school children as a ‘time bomb’ waiting to explode.
‘You don’t need an oracle to know they will become the recruiting ground for the Boko Haram of tomorrow’, the former president declared, urging leaders to prioritise ‘human development, empowerment, and employment’.
The warning comes against a backdrop of grim statistics that place northern Nigeria at the epicentre of the nation’s education and poverty challenges.
UNICEF estimates that more than 10 million of the country’s out-of-school children are in the North, many of them in the Almajiri system.
The region also bears the brunt of violent extremism, banditry, and mass abductions of schoolchildren, which have disrupted education for years.
‘If we fail to prepare now, the Boko Haram of today will be child’s play compared with what we may face in the future’, Obasanjo warned.
The newly inaugurated Bakhita ICT Centre, equipped with 250 laptops and 50 tablets, was built by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, with support from philanthropist Aare Afe Babalola.
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It is designed to equip young people with digital skills and vocational training.
Unveiling the facility, Bishop Kukah urged northern leaders and communities to reject the fatalistic acceptance of poverty as destiny.
‘Among the almajiri on our streets, there could be an Albert Einstein’, he said. ‘Our duty as leaders, parents, pastors, and imams is to shine the light on their potential’.
Kukah also emphasised the importance of unity across faith lines: ‘Christians and Muslims may quarrel, but mosquitoes don’t discriminate. They bite everyone in the mosque and in the church. We all catch malaria. That is God’s way of reminding us to work together’.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, also addressed the gathering, warning against narratives that exaggerate Nigeria’s divisions, particularly on religion.
‘If we can sit here in Sokoto, just five minutes from the Sultan’s palace, to commission a Bakhita ICT Centre with Christians and Muslims praying side by side, why does nobody talk about that?’ he asked.
He stressed that diversity must be seen as strength, not weakness: ‘When you are sick, sickness doesn’t ask whether you are a Muslim or a Christian. Hunger doesn’t know your tribe. Problems affect us all, and solutions must come from us working together’.
The event, attended by traditional rulers, clerics, politicians, and youths, featured cultural performances celebrating Nigeria’s shared heritage.
