Why Nigeria keeps producing miscreants, ready-made tools for crime —Education minister

Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamma, has attributed the escalating crime and insecurity challenges in Nigeria to the high rate of out-of-school children who he said ultimately become miscreants and ready-made tools to be used for criminal activities.

The Minister who gave the damning verdict at the official launch of the National Campaign on Out-Of-School Children in Kwara State on mid-week, said Nigeria alone accounts for one out of every five out-of-school children globally, and 45 percent in West Africa.

According to the Minister who was represented at the event by Dr Olatunji David, Nigeria’s ranking on the out-of-school children index both in the African sub-region and the world is “disturbing and unacceptable for a country regarded as Africa’s largest economy.”

“One of the implications is that Nigeria will constantly produce miscreants who are ready tools in the hands of criminal gangs,” he said.

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He however, stated that the federal government was mindful of the danger of the out-of-school children phenomenon and urged all key stakeholders, including civil society organisations, and community and religious leaders, to act fast in checking the trend.

“Stemming the tide of out-of-school children is a task that this government seeks to accomplish. This is because we are mindful of the spiral effects of having a large number of uneducated population.”

The Minister therefore, appealed to all good-spirited individuals to aid the less privileged in communities by adopting the children and youths who are of school age and supporting their education.

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