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Why Nigeria’s 20 Million Out-of-School Children Threaten Us All
When suspected bandits ambushed former Secretary to the Benue State Government, Professor David Salifu, on Wukari–Joota Road last Thursday, they did not ask for his CV.
They didn’t care that he was a Professor of Public Administration, a former Dean, or that his colleagues remembered him for his “extraordinary perseverance and integrity.”
They stopped his car, dragged him out, and when he wanted to know what they wanted, one of them shot him in the stomach at point-blank range. Rushed first to Wukari, then to the Federal Medical Center in Makurdi, he died in the early hours of Friday morning.
Professor Salifu is traveling for a family funeral. There is no convoy. There were no political demonstrations. Just an academic and a civil servant on a federal highway in broad daylight. His death was not an isolated tragedy. This is a warning.
Neglect Scale
Nigeria now has the world’s largest population of out-of-school children: more than 20 million, according to UNESCO. This is not a line item for the donor report. This is a generational crisis at work.
UNICEF said 10.2 million children of primary school age and 8.1 million children at junior high school level were out of school. One in every five out-of-school children worldwide is Nigerian. Nigeria accounts for 15% of the world’s total.
For context, compare India. With a population almost 7 times that of Nigeria, India has an estimated 1.17 million children out of school by 2025, and targets 100% school enrollment by 2030. Nigeria, with a population of 220 million people, has more than 18 million children out of school. This gap is not just worrying. That’s indecent.
Where the Crisis Occurs
The burden is concentrated in the Northern region. Between 73% and 80% of out-of-school children in Nigeria are in northern states. In the North West and North East regions, only 30% of school age children attend formal classrooms.
The Northern States Governors Forum acknowledged 80% of the 18.3 million figure came from the region. Three states – Kano, Katsina and Jigawa – accounted for 16% of the national total. In Kano alone there are almost 900,000 children out of school.
The core of this system is the Almajiri system. Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa called it the “biggest structural contributor.” Data shows Almajiri children account for 72% to 81% of Nigeria’s out-of-school population. Around 9.5 million boys are sent to school to study the Koran, but currently they are often left to beg because of this crisis.
The 100+ Almajiri schools built under President Goodluck Jonathan have been largely abandoned. This is not a resource issue. This is a failure of political will.
From the Classroom to the Battlefield
Its connection to insecurity is direct and self-reinforcing. The Northern Governors Forum listed poverty, unemployment and children out of school as the main causes of violence.
Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya was blunt: “In a country where 60% of the population is under 35 years of age, a hungry, unemployed and illiterate youth population is nothing more than a cheap recruiting ground for bandits and Boko Haram.”
Bandits have forced dozens of schools to close in Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto and Kaduna. The rebellion continues to displace students in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. Insecurity makes children drop out of school. Children who dropped out of school became recruits. More violence followed.
The Yargote Foundation warns that 7.4 million Nigerian boys are out of school, and 78% of boys aged 7-14 cannot read or do basic math. Only 3-4% have basic skills. “A boy without guidance becomes a man without direction, and society suffers the consequences,” said the founder.
That’s what we saw on the Wukari–Joota Road. The people who killed Professor Salifu didn’t need ideology. They need opportunities, guns, motorbikes, and recruits who have nothing to lose.
Misplaced Priorities
The government’s response so far has been only announcements, not results. Abuja says it will return 15 million children to school. But 12.4 million people never went to class, and 5.9 million people dropped out early.
Between January 2025 and January 2026, states drew down ₦106 billion in UBEC matching grants. ₦22 billion was used to train 978,000 teachers. 10,000 classrooms renovated. But in many northern states, only 53% of teachers are qualified, and the ratio is as high as 1 teacher to 100 students.
Worse, the money was diverted. In Zamfara, despite budgeting ₦79.6 billion for education in 2025 and ₦51.3 billion in 2024, students at Gada Biyu Model Primary School sit on concrete. MonITNG called it “misplaced priorities,” referring to funds spent on overseas travel and hospitality, including disputed claims of more than ₦400 million.
In the North, this pattern holds. In nine months, 14 northern states withdrew ₦56 billion as security votes. Kano budgeted ₦2.5 billion for mass weddings but only ₦955 million to account for out-of-school children. Katsina set aside ₦4.58 billion for Hajj and ₦2.3 billion for Ramadan food. Pilgrimages and politics are funded. Classrooms don’t.
UBEC Executive Secretary Dr. Aisha Garba called it a “huge crisis.” The new $552 million HOPE-EDU program with the World Bank is welcomed. It is also a drop in the ocean.
The way out
What is needed is a reset. The leaders of Northern countries must be aware of the fact that 80% of the problems are in their region. That means mandatory, free primary education, and the phasing out of the Almajiri system with a credible alternative, as Governor Sule has proposed.
The Federal Government should declare a national education emergency focused on the North, enforce Minimum Standards for Safe Schools, and link funding to results. Nigeria needs a Teacher Redevelopment consisting of at least 150,000 new teachers with priority placement in the Northern region. And all stakeholders must sign the Northern Primary Education Agreement with clear targets.
Nigeria’s founders understood that human capital was the real resource. Today we hand it over. Girls who should be in that class are peddling on the street or getting married early. Every child who does not receive an education will become a burden on society in the future.
A Nation at Risk
Let’s be frank. Nigeria is sleepwalking towards disaster. The figure of 20 million children dropping out of school is not a statistic. They are a time bomb. When the explosion occurs, no area in Lagos, Abuja or Makurdi will be immune.
Professor Salifu is not the last Nigerian scholar to be killed due to his negligence. If we don’t act now – with real classrooms, real teachers, and real law enforcement – we will not only fail our children. We are building our own destruction.
The bomb keeps ticking. And it’s already on the road.
By: Allen Durueke
