“Out-of-School Children Recruitment for Boko Haram”: Obasanjo Warns of Security Threat

• Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed concern over out-of-school children in Nigeria
• At an event in Bauchi state, he warned that they are at risk of being recruited by extremist groups like Boko Haram
• The elder statesman urged the government, including community leaders, to wake up to their responsibility to address the education crisis to prevent a future security threat

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has maintained that the growing number of out-of-school children in the country poses a great security risk for the nation in the future.

According to Obasanjo, over 20 million out-of-school children in Nigeria are only being prepared for recruitment into Boko Haram and banditry in the next 10 to 15 years.

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As reported by Channels TV, the former president stated this in Bauchi state on Sunday, October 20, at the commissioning ceremony of some selected projects executed by Governor Bala Mohammed.

“Let me emphasise what we want to do, human capacity building, education and human capacity building very important. World Bank says we have over 20 million children who should be in school that are not in school for a population of about 230 million.

“So, that is 10 percent of our population that should be in school that are not in school. Governor, your royal highnesses, brothers and sisters, that is recruitment for future Boko Haram, nobody needs to tell us that,” Obasanjo said.

He said that not equipping the children to develop their innate ability and capacity leaves them for Boko Haram and bandits to exploit.

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“Apart from being that 10 per cent of our population are not being equipped to develop their innate ability and capacity to be able to serve themselves, their family, their community, we are also preparing them to be recruited in 10 to 15 years’ time for whatever form of Boko Haram it will be that time, whatever form of banditry it will be.”

Read more about Obasanjo:

• “How I suffered 25% hearing loss,” Obasanjo breaks silence
• Nigerian leaders who should be in jail, Obasanjo reveals
• Hardship: Why Nigeria remains backward - Obasanjo

Unemployment cause of banditry, kidnapping, says OBJ

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has correlated the surge in banditry and kidnapping with the widespread unemployment in the nation.

He expressed this viewpoint while delivering a speech at the 9th International Trade Exhibition & Conference on Agrofood, Plastics, Printing, and Packaging in Lagos.

Source: Legit.ng