Nigerian govt more responsible for out-of-school children than Boko Haram terrorists —US group

The US-Nigeria Law Group has accused the Nigerian government of being more responsible for the high number of out-of-school children in the country which the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has put at over 15 million.

The Washington-based group stressed that while the government was quick to blame the Boko Haram terrorists for the situation because of their stance against western education, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has done worse as the government was “needlessly exacerbating dubious distinction as having most out-of-school population.”

A statement by the US Law Group on Friday, said the government had been neglecting its duties of providing security for school children and the teachers amid biting economic crisis which has forced many parents to withdraw their wards from schools.

READ ALSO:‘More children out of school in Nigeria than in war-torn Ethiopia, Congo’

“As it stands, the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government is now responsible for more students currently out of school than even Boko Haram, the terror group that has sought to stamp out western education.

“Nigeria has the unenviable distinction of having the most out-of-school children at over 15 million.

“Rather than addressing this travesty, the government of the day has added university students to the mix and now even military students in what can be seen as an almajirinization or Boko haramization of the Nigerian educational space.

“To add insult to injury, the Buhari administration has reportedly released over 100 terrorists from prison and sent them for “de radicalization” training recently while simultaneously withdrawing soldiers, who helped capture them, from school.

“Buhari who has benefited his entire life from being funded and educated by the Nigerian government even in foreign military institutions, is handing over a shameful legacy to soldiers of today than he himself received,” part of the group’s statement reads.

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