“Degeneration and advance are not fixed processes but recur in cycles in the history of every nation.” — John Buchan
A most disconcerting phenomenon confronting Northern Nigeria today is the failure to educate its children properly. A drive around Abuja and adjoining parts of Nasarawa State makes the point painfully vivid. Children of school age, boys and girls, many apparently from the North-West, can be seen in disturbing numbers living, begging and wandering on the streets when they should be in classrooms. What future awaits children growing up without education, skills or protection should trouble every responsible Northern leader.
Unless something changes radically, their prospects and those of the North are bleak indeed. The problem of education, or more accurately, the lack of it, has become too acute and too large to be treated through ordinary administrative routines. Northern Nigeria has reached a point where the educational deficit warrants an extraordinary response. As Nigeria approaches the 2027 general elections, education in the North should no longer be treated as merely one item among several campaign promises. It should be placed at the centre of political discussion because, perhaps more than any other question, it will determine the future respectability, stability, security and prosperity of the region.
