Buhari tells governors to enforce free and compulsory education as it is a crime not to educate children

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has urged Nigeria's state governors to enforce free and compulsory basic education for every child of primary and junior secondary school age very vigorously in a move to stamp out illiteracy and the growth of terrorism.

Nigeria is currently home to the world's largest number of out-of-school children and has the highest number of humans living in absolute poverty. This problem is particularly chronic in the north of the country, where wards refuse to send their children to school, which has spurred a growth in violent crime.

Denied education and training, youths across northern Nigeria have resorted to kidnapping, armed robbery, banditry and being used by terrorist groups like Boko Haram. They are also being equipped by AK47s by politicians to act as Fulani cattle herdsmen, attacking farming villages across the country.

With a total of 10.3m children out of school and 87m Nigerians living below the United Nations poverty threshold of $2 a day, President Buhari has asked state governors to expedite action on addressing the pandemic. Under Nigeria's constitutional arrangement, local governments are responsible for primary school education, while state governments are responsible for secondary school education.

Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina, said that President Buhari has also urged the governors to pay special attention to security, health and agriculture over the next four years. Inaugurating the National Economic Council at the presidential villa, President Buhari reminded the governors that providing free and compulsory education is a constitutional provision.

President Buhari added: "Section 18(3) of the 1999 constitution places on all of us here an obligation to eradicate illiteracy and provide free and compulsory education. Section 2 of the Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act provides that every government in Nigeria shall provide free, compulsory and universal basic education for every child of primary and junior secondary school age.

“It is indeed a crime for any parent to keep his child out of school for this period. In my view, when a government fails to provide the schools, teachers and teaching materials necessary for basic education, it is actually aiding and abetting that crime.

‘‘This is, therefore, a call to action. I would like to see every governor rise from this meeting and rally his local government chairmen towards ensuring that our schools offer the right opportunities and provide the needed materials and teachers for basic education, at the minimum. If we are able to do this, the benefits will surely manifest themselves."

President Buhari reminded the governors that successes in the four key areas of education, security, health and agriculture would go a long in lifting Nigerians out poverty and securing the future for sustainable growth and development. Nigeria currently has a literacy rate of about 60% but this is skewed in favour of the south of the country.