From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has warned that the country’s estimated 15 million out-of-school children are potential Boko Haram insurgents, in the next 15 years, if allowed to continue to roam the streets aimlessly.
He stated this, yesterday, in Abuja at the 2022 Murtala Muhammed Foundation Annual Lecture, entitled: “Beyond Boko Haram: Addressing insurgency, banditry and kidnapping across Nigeria.”
He said his voyage to Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, to understudy the activities of Boko Haram insurgents in 2011, revealed that their anger and actions stemmed from lack of education, unemployment and poverty.
He advised the government to get out-of-school children educated and create jobs for them rather than waste resources on the provision of unsustained palliatives.
“The issue of banditry and armed robbery started immediately after the civil war because people could have access to weapons. And then of course, we have not come out of it since then. It has been growing from bad to worse.
“The population of Nigeria today standing in over 215 million. And 15 million children which should be in school are not in school. It does not matter how we deal with Boko Haram, bandits, kidnapping and adoption today, either by stick or carrot, those 15 million children that should be in school that are not in school are the potential Boko Haram of 15 years from now.
“I believe that it is not too late to start giving them education. We can say to ourselves that we do not want Boko Haram of now in 2035. And if we do not do anything about the 15 million children that should be in school that are not in school, then we are already nurturing the Boko Haram of tomorrow.”
Harping on the country’s leadership structure, he demanded that younger people be given the opportunity to be at the helm of affairs, while his likes, should sit back and provide counselling on nation building.
“You also talked about intergenerational collaboration. Kayode Fayemi, you talked about being in secondary school when Murtala-Obasanjo were in government. If people of Murtala-Obasanjo’s age still have to compete with you as governor then something is wrong.”
Keynote speaker and Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi said the military should be motivated with modern gadgets to fight and put an end to Boko Haram activities.
“If an all-encompassing social compact has become an urgent imperative in our quest to look beyond Boko Haram towards an all-round national rebirth, it must go without saying that we have to pay special attention to employment