Senate Calls For National Summit On Out-Of-School Children

ABUJA – The Senate on Wednesday blamed the source of inse­curity in the country on the huge number of out-of-school children in the country and called for a national summit to address the menace.

President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, said if the menace of out-of-school children in the country can be brought under control then the country would be saf­er for all to live.

Responding to the reports of the Committee on Educa­tion (Basic and Secondary) submitted by Senator Usman Lawal Adamu (Kaduna Cen­tral), Akpabio said the out-of-school children are potential bandits tomorrow and that Nigerians should be worried about the problem.

“If the elite continue to pay lip service to the prob­lem, they will pay for it in the future with the lives of those their children they trained abroad who might be killed by these out-of-school chil­dren when they come back to Nigeria.

“So many senators cannot even visit their villages in the north because of insecurity caused by out-of-school chil­dren already,” he said.

Akpabio warned that Nige­rians, especially in the north, couldn’t continue to do noth­ing with millions of these chil­dren out-of-school.

Senator Henry Seriake Dickson while making his con­tribution called on the Senate to convene a national summit on the matter to be chaired by the Senate President to find a lasting solution to it.

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Ji­brin, in his contribution said the out-of-school children is a time bomb that when it ex­plodes, it will consume all of us, particularly in the north­ern part of the country.

“The number of children roaming our streets without going to school needs our at­tention, it is a serious prob­lem. It is a problem that the solution is beyond the Feder­al Government alone or any tier of government. It should have an all-inclusive atten­tion. Local, state, and Federal Government, traditional and religious leaders, and even parents all have a role to play,” he said.

Jibrin added that the Fed­eral Government should also make sure that there is reorientation for parents to know that they have to train their children properly, as prescribed by two prominent religions in the country – Islam and Christianity.

“Religions give that re­sponsibility to the parents to make sure that they take care of their children. So, allowing kids to roam on the streets in the first place is not something that Islam accepts without giv­ing them the proper care. It is also something that is not ac­ceptable to Christianity. That has to be said loud and clear,” he said.

Senator Adamu said the al­most 20 million out-of-school children in Nigeria contribute a major threat to the security of the country.

Responding to questions from journalists after the plenary, Adamu said parents must be made to know the im­portance of education for their children, adding that after all, they will be the first beneficia­ry of an educated child before the society.