Obasanjo: Ignoring out-of-school children will worsen insurgency

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo says Nigeria must do something about out-of-school children if the country wants to effectively tackle insecurity.

According to NAN, Obasanjo said this on Monday at the 2022 Murtala Muhammed Foundation (MMF) annual lecture which had the theme, ‘Beyond Boko Haram: Addressing Insurgency, Banditry and Kidnapping across Nigeria’.

The former president, who is also the chairman of MMF’s board of trustees (BoT), expressed concern over the number of out-of-school children, adding that Nigeria needs to address the challenges facing the education sector.

“It doesn’t matter how the country deals with Boko Haram, banditry and kidnapping — either by stick or by carrot approach — those 15 million children that should be in school but are not in school are the potential Boko Haram of 10 to 15 years from now,” he was quoted as saying.

“I believe it is not late to start and say to ourselves ‘we do not want the Boko Haram of 2030 or 2035′. But if we don’t do anything about those 15 million out-of-school children, we are already in more trouble with Boko Haram of the future.

“We, the society, must be willing to give them education and employment or they will extract it from the society unwillingly.

“What I feared at that time seems to have been happening, because in 2011, Boko Haram had not much of external connection. My fear was: ‘Could we be able to get them away from Al-Qaeda and other international terror organisations?’

“We seem not to have been able to do that. Today, Boko Haram and those who have come to work with them are making the matter worse than it was 11 years ago.”

The former president also spoke on the need to improve the economy.

“Our economic situation today is lamentable. This, we also have to do something about. Education should be first priority, because if we are not able to take care of education, we cannot take care of other things,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we are not taking it seriously. Until we move Nigeria from being a country to being a nation, we are not going to go far.

“Justice and equity are necessary in building a society where everybody feels a sense of belonging.”

Also responding to a comment by Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti, on the influence of politicians, Obasanjo said rather than compete for positions, older politicians should focus on sharing their wealth of experience with the younger generation.

“Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state, you talked about being in secondary school when Murtala/Obasanjo were in power. If Murtala/Obasanjo and people of their age still have to compete with you as governor, then something is wrong with the Murtala-Obasanjo group,” he said.

“They should be sharing their knowledge and experience with you and you should be giving it to those coming after you.

“That way, we can make sure that the experiences we have accumulated, we are passing it down to those of you coming behind, rather than to start competing with you.

“This is necessary to make sure you have access to what you can use to make Nigeria better than you found it.”

He also urged Nigerians to be committed to developing the country, adding that “for me, we can’t go anywhere until we take nation-building seriously”.