The Chairman of the Northern States Governors\u2019 Forum, Muhammadu Yahaya, has urged his colleagues in the region to put aside political differences and adopt a common development strategy to tackle the estimated 18 million out-of-school children in the country.\n<\/p>\n
Yahaya, who is also the Governor of Gombe State, warned that continued educational exclusion threatens the North\u2019s security and future.\n<\/p>\n
He said the region could no longer afford fragmented policies and individual state approaches to a crisis that required coordinated investment in basic education, infrastructure, teacher recruitment, and skills development.\n<\/p>\n
The governor spoke on Saturday at the 2026 Biennial Dialogue, Lecture, Dinner, Awards, and Recognition Ceremony organised by the Barewa Old Boys\u2019 Association, Gombe State Chapter.<\/p>\n
The event focused on the theme, \u201cThe Scourge of Out-of-School Children in Nigeria and the Implications for National Security and National Development.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
According to Yahaya, the North accounts for a disproportionate share of the estimated 18 million children outside the formal education system, identifying poverty, insecurity, inadequate educational infrastructure, and structural inequalities as major factors behind the crisis.\n<\/p>\n
He described the situation as a development emergency and a national security concern, warning that educational exclusion perpetuated poverty, undermined economic productivity, and exposed vulnerable children to criminal exploitation and extremist tendencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cBehind these statistics are real human stories: children whose dreams are cut short by poverty, girls denied education by circumstances beyond their control, and young boys growing up on the streets without the knowledge and skills needed to build their future,\u201d Yahaya said.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must therefore recognise that the out-of-school children crisis is not merely an educational problem. It is a development emergency and a national security concern,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n
Yahaya maintained that security operations alone could not guarantee lasting peace without deliberate investments in education, employment opportunities, and human capital development.\n<\/p>\n
He called on northern governors to develop a regional framework that would address the challenges confronting the region, rather than allowing political differences to undermine collective progress.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever it takes, we must align. The politics of government will not take us anywhere. We will continue to suffer,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
The governor advocated what he described as backward integration, urging leaders to examine the region\u2019s past educational achievements, assess its present challenges, and plan for future population growth.\n<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the historical contribution of Barewa College to Nigeria\u2019s leadership and development, Yahaya said the North needed to recreate the educational vision that produced generations of leaders.<\/p>\n
He suggested that every northern state should consider establishing institutions modelled after Barewa College to expand access to quality education and promote unity among young people across the region.\n<\/p>\n
Yahaya called for greater attention to basic education, warning against the tendency of governments to prioritise tertiary institutions while millions of children remained outside the classroom.\n<\/p>\n
The NGF chairman disclosed that his administration had constructed about 400 primary schools in Gombe State and was working to improve teacher training and recruit qualified teachers.\n<\/p>\n
He stressed that the challenge extended beyond enrolling children in schools to ensuring that they remained in the education system, completed their studies, and acquired relevant vocational or technical skills.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not just in getting them off the streets and returning them to school. It is to ensure that they qualify and get the skills and other education that they desire,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n
The governor also called for stronger collaboration among state and local governments, traditional rulers, religious institutions, parents, and development partners, arguing that poverty, insecurity, and educational exclusion reinforced one another.\n<\/p>\n
He urged the Barewa Old Boys\u2019 Association to deploy its extensive network to support scholarships, mentorship, advocacy, and partnerships, cautioning that discussions and policy recommendations would amount to little without practical implementation.<\/p>\n
Stakeholders\u2019 perspectives\n<\/p>\n
In her remarks, a former Minister of State for Education, Aishatu Dukku, said parents must bear primary responsibility for ensuring that their children received formal education, arguing that government intervention should complement rather than replace parental obligations.\n<\/p>\n
Dukku said poverty and other socio-economic challenges notwithstanding, parents should not allow their children to roam the streets without access to education.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree there are challenges of poverty, yes, but the responsibility is a parental issue,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
She stated that parents must first be educated about their responsibilities before government interventions could effectively address the problem.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether we like it or not, we must educate the parents first, let them know their responsibilities, and then the government can come in to help.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI never agreed with the fact that out-of-school children are a government responsibility. No and no and no. It is not a government responsibility. It is a parental issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Dukku, however, raised concerns about the fate of graduates who remained unemployed years after completing their education, warning that the absence of economic opportunities could expose young people to extremism and drug abuse.\n<\/p>\n
She disclosed that seven graduates known to her had completed their studies between five and seven years ago but remained unemployed.\n<\/p>\n
The ex-minister said, \u201cSome of them are even thinking that they should join if there is anything more than Boko Haram, they would even want to join, and some of them have resorted to drug addiction. What are we doing about that?\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Earlier, the National President of the Barewa Old Boys\u2019 Association, Gen. Alwali Kazir (retd.), said the out-of-school children crisis was not exclusively an educational challenge but also a developmental, social, economic, and national security concern.\n<\/p>\n
Kazir cautioned against portraying out-of-school children themselves as security threats, describing them instead as vulnerable children whose circumstances required urgent attention and intervention.\n<\/p>\n
He called for reliable data to identify children excluded from education, improved access to basic education, safer schools, and interventions tailored to the realities of different communities.\n<\/p>\n
The BOBA president also advocated collaboration among governments, traditional rulers, religious leaders, parents, civil society organisations, and development partners.<\/p>\n
He said the association would contribute through mentorship, scholarships, advocacy, and partnerships aimed at expanding educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, urging members to translate their concern into practical action.\n <\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
The Chairman of the Northern States Governors\u2019 Forum, Muhammadu Yahaya, has urged his colleagues in the region to put aside political differences and adopt a common development strategy to tackle… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}