Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, has described the issue of Almajiri and out-of-school children in the country as a volcano waiting to erupt.
Abiodun added that the issue is a national challenge that needs to be addressed before it gets out of control.
The governor spoke on Thursday while receiving members of the National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children’s Education, who paid him a courtesy call in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
He stressed that this calls for concern, as they could easily be manipulated to cause havoc in the country.
Abiodun said: “The issue of Almajiri is a national challenge. It is not a challenge for a section of this country, but a national challenge. The National Security Adviser and I sat down to discuss this issue, and we deliberated on what actionable steps can be taken that are implementable, breaking them down into immediate, medium- to long-term, and sustainable steps to ensure that we collectively deal with the issue, which I described as a volcanic eruption that we can’t see now that appears dormant but is very viable.
“The last time we had protests, we saw an unusually high number of protests, significantly from the north. When you look at those protesters, they were Almajiri children. It was obvious that they didn’t have a clue about what they were doing. Some of them were carrying Russian flags, which means that they didn’t understand what that meant. They were tools in the hands of manipulators, willing and ready tools in the hands of manipulators who probably gave them a meal or something meagre, and they were ready to go for it.
“I assure you that, as the governor of Ogun State and the Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum, we will do our best to address this issue, even though we have a lower number of out-of-school children in the south.”
He attributed the high number of out-of-school children in the state to a large student population due to the influx of people from other parts of the country coming to work or live in the state, adding that his administration is taking steps to address the situation.
The governor assured that he would liaise with his colleagues to replicate similar commission in their various states.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Alternative Education, Almustapha Rabah, said Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children after Pakistan and India, urging all hands to be on deck to address the issue.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Dr. Muhammad Idris, disclosed that Nigeria has about 30 million Almajiri roaming the streets as a result of the irresponsibility of their parents.
He said the Almajiri, apart from constituting a nuisance, are manipulated and recruited into banditry, while some are made to join terrorist gangs, thus posing a security challenge to the nation.