Out-of-School Children in Nigeria
A growing security threat to the world
Introduction
Nigeria is currently battling numerous security challenges. These include the Boko Haram sect that has been terrorizing the northeastern part of the country for a long time and the growing banditry activities in the northwestern part of the country, displacing many people from their homes, with numerous lives and properties being destroyed. These terrorist groups will not have the manpower they are using without the availability of an abundance of out-of-school children.
According to World Bank, Nigeria has 11 million out-of-school children, the highest in the world. Most of them are girls.
The few that are struggling to get educated are attacked on school campuses by jihadists and criminal gangs. This has particularly harmed children’s education and many parent's confidence in western education continues to decline since the institution cannot protect them or their children
Terrorists use children to fuel their course
A BBC African eye documentary recently revealed that children are actively recruited by terrorists and these children are more ruthless than their seniors because many of them have never tasted the good things in life. The second point is that they are illiterate, hence they cannot easily draw the boundary between what is right and what is wrong.
More details about the insurgency https://youtu.be/g-fPEHUqhyA
What we can do in our own local way
I believe all this evidence should make us understand that some people somewhere in this part of the world are struggling with what some of us have solved many centuries ago.
Children in many African countries are truly in need of mentors, especially in the STEM space. Some of us I know have invented cutting-edge technologies and headed big companies. We rarely see such people or hear how the pursuit of knowledge is what made them achieve such incredible things. In my part of the world, bad people with money and no agenda for the pursuit of knowledge influence the mind of our society. Many of these children don't know that having patents for technology like smartphones, cameras e.t.c. can make you rich. They are beginning to believe that joining kidnapping for ransom is the most lucrative business in the whole world. This should be scary for all of us.
Conclusion
History has taught us that security is a concern for all globally. We are connected in a way that when terrorism grows in another region, it might spread to other parts of the world. As the internet connects us as never seen before, I believe we can give these children the mentoring, education, and guidance that will transform them into global citizens that we can be proud of.
Imagine the experts we have just in this community of writers and what we can offer to change the bad narration that is happening to our dear planet.
You can support us by becoming mentors or through donations so that we can start training these kids in various STEM subjects.
