Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has sounded a warning over the country’s crisis of out-of-school children, stressing on the risk of them being recruited by Boko Haram terrorists if neglected.
At the inauguration of the Bakhita ICT Centre in Sokoto on Tuesday, Obasanjo described Nigeria’s estimated 24 million out-of-school children as a “time bomb” ready to explode if left unattended.
He urged leaders to focus on human development, empowerment, and employment as key priorities to avert this looming threat.
The gravity of the situation is particularly severe in northern Nigeria, where UNICEF reports that over 10 million out-of-school children are concentrated, many within the Almajiri system, which has historically been linked to poverty and social vulnerability.
The northern region continues to experience violent extremism, banditry, and the distressing phenomenon of mass abductions of schoolchildren, disrupting education and community stability for years.
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