Reducing ‘out of school’ children is solution to insurgency says Sen. Ahmed Lawan

…Saraki charges govs to prioritize education in states

Tunde Opalana, Abuja

Leader of the Senate, Senator Ahmed Lawan has said that the country can overcome the menace of insurgency if concerted efforts are made to drastically reduce the army of ‘out of school’ children on the streets.

The concerned Senator said the unfortunate visionless young children on the streets in Northern Nigeria especially are available recruitment ground for Boko Haram and other insurgent groups.

He said emphatically that the National Assembly has given parliamentary backing to issues of adequate education at the primary level including approval of funds to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and other Intervention agencies.

The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, however, charged state governors especially those that will take oath of office today to prioritize education in their states while specifically encouraged those Northern governors to draw programs to take children (almajiri) out of the streets.

Senator Ahmad Lawan made this Intervention at plenary on Tuesday when he came came under Order 43 to inform the Senate on the events of the International Children’s day celebrated on Monday that the number of children on the streets keep increasing without adequate care.

Addressing his colleagues, he said “the challenge we have is giving our children the kind of treatment they deserve and ensuring they are groomed to be leaders of tomorrow. Today we have millions of children out of school and this should not be so.

“I believe the time has come for us to take a major step and be brave enough to address the issues concerning child health and education. We can make significant contributions to the universal basic education; from kindergarten to basic secondary school.

“I believe the major source of insecurity today in this country is because of this neglected sector of the economy. Children from 17 years have been found engaging in criminal activities.

“It is time for us as a government to work on the compulsory free universal education Bill to ensure our children are not left on the street and also to make sure education is actually free for them.

“We have to look into ways we can provide an environment for children who roam about the street to be engaged in school activities and not insurgency.

In his remarks, Senate President, Bukola Saraki said in the Nigerian society 9% of children are still out of school.

He said leaders of the nation at different level of governance owe the responsibility not only to ensure that all children have the opportunity to go to school.

“Parents must be held responsible to ensure that their children go to school. And more importantly, we have passed some Bills here to include the amount of funds available to UBEC, we have also reduced the percentage of contributions to states just to ensure that it is possible to access funds in UBEC.”- Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.

“I think a lot of work has to be done by the new incoming Governors on education. No matter what we do say at the national level this is purely something that for effectiveness has to be treated at the sub national level.”- Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki.

“The greatest assets of any nation is education and children must see and benefit from quality education,” said Saraki.