Nigeria’s out-of-school children potential bandits, major danger – Akpabio

"If we can solve the problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria, over 20 million children that are out of school, those are potential bandits, major danger,” Mr Akpabio said.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has said Nigeria’s out-of-school children may soon transform to bandits, if the government fails to return them to their classrooms.

Mr Akpabio said this during the plenary on Wednesday when he commented on a report to tackle the challenges of out-of-school children in the country.

“This issue of out-of-school children is one of the most important and a major source of insecurity in this country. 20 million children that are out of school is a time bomb for any country or anywhere experiencing banditry.

“If we can solve the problem of out-of-school children in Nigeria, over 20 million children that are out of school, those are potential bandits, major danger,” Mr Akpabio said.

The figure of Nigerian children who are out-of-school is increasing yearly. In 2023, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated that 10.5 million children were out of school in Africa’s most populous country.

The latest report of UNICEF, published in August, indicated that the figure has risen to 18.3 million with many of the cases prevalent in the Northern part of the country.

During the plenary, the senate president expressed fear that the out-of-school children may occupy the home of politicians as a counter attack.

“You can send your children to Cambridge, send your children to Harvard, they can’t come back home. You can stay here as a senator and your house is occupied by bandits. I have colleagues who are now ministers who have not been to some places in Borno for five years. They build houses and abandon those houses.

“It started from this out-of-school children issue. So that’s why I allow us to discuss it. It’s a very major issue,” he added.

Fear of death

Mr Akpabio also expressed fear that the out-of-school children may attack children of politicians, if they are not returned to their classrooms.

“You have children. They can’t come back from abroad after all they’ve been through, and they die without knowing why. Because they grew up on this. They are dying because you failed to do the basics. You failed to send your neighbour’s child to school.”

Students in flooded classrooms

Mr Akpabio also said he was aware that some students were sitting on the floor and in flooded classrooms to take lessons.

He said the National Assembly needs to compile reports of such scenarios for proper research before taking a final consideration.

“We need to go on retreats; we need to go on round-table discussions with all concerned stakeholders, because I’m aware that in some states, children are sitting on the floor to obtain an education at the primary school.

“And there are some states that I saw where children were sitting inside water. They carry their chairs from home, they bring in their chairs from home and then they put it inside water because the classroom is flooded and they sit inside there and they are getting education.

“So we would like to see such reports and we would like to debate. I would like to particularise those institutions and I would like to focus attention on ameliorating the plight of those children,” he said.

Mr Akpabio said the issue of out-of-school children will continue to linger until a proper oversight function is established.

‘I can tell you that unless we do proper oversight functions, it is not enough for us to check that plan. We should also be able to check that plan to go and look at a primary school here or anywhere. We are not doing that. So it is everybody’s fault.”

Akpabio as governor

The senate president said he ensured there was compulsory free education when he served as governor of Akwa Ibom.

“When I was a governor, I declared free and compulsory education for all Nigerian children who found their way to work abroad, paid their welfare fees, their national fees, everything compulsory. And I had education monitors from eight in the morning. They go around. If they see a child that is roaming around, they will pick up the child, go and arrest the parents. And there were consequences. Six months in prison for any parent or guardian.

“So if we can replicate that nationally, I think we can solve the problem. We had to build over 6,000 new classroom blocks because of the influx of students,” Mr Akpabio said.