The Ogun State Governnor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has described the issue of Almajiri and out-of-school children in the country as a volcano waiting to erupt.
Biodun made this known on Thursday when received members of National Commission for Almajiri and Out-of-School Children’s Education, who paid him a courtesy call in his office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, the State capital.
The Governor added that the issue of out-of-school children is a national challenge that needs to be addressed before it gets out of control, stating that the high number of these almajiri calls for concern, as they could be manipulated to cause havoc in the country.
According to him, “The issue of Almajiri is a national challenge. It is not a challenge for a section of this country, but a national challenge. The National Security Adviser and I sat down to discuss this issue, deliberated on what actionable steps can be taken that are implementable.
“Breaking them down into immediate, medium to long-term, and sustainable steps to ensure that we collectively deal with the issue, which I described as volcanic eruption that we can’t see now, that appears dormant, but is very viable.
“The last time we had protests, we saw an unusually high number of protests, significantly from the north. When you look at those protesters, they were Almajiri children. 
“It was obvious that they didn’t have a clue about what they were doing. Some of them were carrying Russian flags, which means that they didn’t understand what that means.
“They were tools in the hands of manipulators, willing and ready tools in the hands of manipulators who probably gave them a meal or something meager, and they were ready to go for it.
“This is a very sad development in the history of this nation, and this is a result of years of neglect of the situation. My position is that we can successfully tackle it. This will be one of President Bola Tinubu’s best legacies. 
“It will be an enduring legacy, and I know that the President, under his Renewed Hope vision, is very passionate about ensuring that he reduces the number of Almajiri and out-of-school children to an absolute minimum.
“I assure you that, as the governor of Ogun State and the Chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum (SGF), we will do our best to address this issue, even though we have a lower number of out-of-school children in the south.”
Abiodun attributed the high number of out-of-school children in the state to a large student population due to influx of people from other parts of the country coming to work or live in the state, adding that he is taking steps to address the situation.
“When you look at statistics, it shows that Ogun State has an unusually high percentage of out-of-school children in the southwest. In the primary sector, it shows 10.3 percent, compared to the southwest region’s 6.2 percent. “In junior secondary school, we have 12.1 percent, compared to 8.5 percent in the southwest average. In senior secondary, we have 20.9 percent, compared to 19.2 percent average in the southwest.
“But you know, statistics at times can be misleading, so when you look at the number of students we have in Ogun State compared to the number of students in.
“For example, a state like Ekiti, and you see Ekiti showing a lower number of out-of- school children, you can begin to understand why ours is high because we have by far more students than some of these states combined.
“That itself is not an excuse, but it is something to ensure that we deliberately begin to work in order to reduce this to the barest minimum. That means we are also interested parties in view of what we are going through in our state,” he submitted.
