The United Nations Education Science and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recently revealed that there are about 10.5 million Nigerian children that are out of school. This, according to the organization, is the largest population of such Out of School Children (OSC) anywhere on earth. In fact, the report said Nigeria accounts for 47 percent of the world’s population of OSC. In comparison, the entire population of Libya and Liberia is 10,496,000 while the population of OSC in Nigeria is approximately 10,500,000. INNOCENT DURU in this report, examines how developments in some Lagos slums contribute to the rising number of OSC in the country and the implications for the attainment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 which seeks to ensure an inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.
The dream of Atuku Aminat, a Senior Secondary School (SSS) 3 student of completing her secondary education and proceeding to higher institution is hanging in the balance. For some time now, the 19-year-old has been out of school and uncertain of returning to school anytime soon to at least participate in the first term examination that is coming up in a week from the date of this publication. “ I am in a fix. My education and future is in danger. My poor parents have laboured hard to bring me this far but is this how my academic dreams will end? Does it mean I will not complete secondary school not to talk of proceeding to higher institution?” Aminat who desires to study accountancy in the university asked rhetorically.
Aminat, a resident of Otodogbame slum in Lekki area of Lagos State, had had a smooth academic life until the community was allegedly invaded by touts suspected to be land grabbers and armed security men recently.
In the process, the buildings made of bamboo, wood and roofing sheets were reportedly set ablaze by the invaders leaving the people homeless. At the end of the day, Aminat and her colleagues had their school uniforms, notebooks, textbooks, sandals and other valuables burnt to ashes making it impossible for them to go to school.
“I was planning to write my final exams but there is no hope for me as we speak now because of the condition that my parents have found themselves. All the materials I was gathering to prepare for WAEC and NECO exams were burnt during the attack. My academic future is in danger right now because my parents have lost their means of livelihood. They have no means of providing money for us to go to school again.
“It has been pretty difficult for my siblings and I as our parents can hardly put food on the table for us. Different humanitarian groups have been bringing relief materials for us. They bring snacks and medical supplies for us but the snacks don’t go round. Many of us always go about in empty stomach if the ration doesn’t get to us. We are really dying of hunger and unsure of what the future holds in stock for us,” Aminat said.
Aside from the agony of being out of school, Aminat relived an ugly experience she had while escaping through a river in the community.
“Before the invaders set our houses on fire, they shot from time to time into the air forcing us to scamper to safety. The nearest and safest place we could run to was the river. We all ran into it and started using boats to escape from the looming danger.
“When we were struggling with the boat, we saw the dead bodies of some of our neighbours and friends floating on the river. They also tried to escape through the river but their boats capsized and they died in the river. Many of them were not used to life on water. The sight haunts most of us till date. We will never forget that day.”
Aminat’s case and that of her peers in Otodogbame unarguably account for the rising incident of OSC in the land. According to the UNESCO, over the last decade, Nigeria’s exponential growth in population has put immense pressure on the country’s resources and already overstretched public services and infrastructure. With children under 15 years of age accounting for about 45 per cent of the country’s population, the burden on education and other sectors has become overwhelming.
“Forty per cent of Nigerian children aged 6-11 do not attend any primary school with the Northern region recording the lowest school attendance rate in the country, particularly for girls. Despite a significant increase in net enrollment rates in recent years, it is estimated that about 4.7 million children of primary school age are still not in school.
“Increased enrollment rates have also created challenges in ensuring quality education and satisfactory learning achievement as resources are spread more thinly across a growing number of students. It is not rare to see cases of 100 pupils per teacher or students sitting under trees outside the school building because of the lack of classrooms,” the organisation said.
Similar to Aminat’s case is that of 15-year-old Peace Whefoude whose hope of taking part in the forthcoming Junior Secondary School (JSS) 3 examination is dicey.
The visibly worried girl said: “ I have been out of school since our building was set ablaze. All my textbooks, notebooks, uniforms and other things that I was using in school were burnt. I did not bring out an ordinary pen from the house because the attack was sudden and severe.
“The fire moved with the speed of wind forcing all of us to run into a nearby river. We jumped into a boat and started paddling in a disorganised manner because we were not coordinated. At a point, the boat wanted to capsize as it was being tossed around by the wave. I was scared and thought my end had come. Luckily I escaped unscathed but several others were not so lucky.”
The story was not different when The Nation met Nasu Coleth, a 15-year-old SS1 pupil. She said: “I am worried that I am out of school for no just reason. The fact that exams are going to be starting soon gives me nightmare. I can’t imagine missing exams or dropping out of school. I am eager to go to school every morning but I don’t have school uniform, and books again. They were all burnt during the attack. I also have two brothers who are also out of school.
“This has put our academic dreams in danger. I am also yet to overcome the psychological trauma that I suffered after seeing the dead bodies of some of our neighbours that drowned in the river while trying to escape from the raging fire and sporadic gunshots by security operatives.”
For Kpose Juliet another SSS 1 pupil, the feeling of being a refugee continuously gives her headache. “We have become refugees in our land. We have been sleeping in the open since they burnt our houses. This has opened us up to unhindered mosquito bites and harsh weather conditions. Unfortunately, there is no hospital that we can go to for treatment.
“It is only when humanitarian groups come here with doctors that we get medical help. They check and give us drugs free of charge. We don’t have shelter, we don’t have access to medical services and above all, can’t go to school. It is disheartening. Our psyche is daily affected by all this,” she said.
The youth leader of the community, Ahisu Celestine, claimed that they have been living in the community for more than 100 years before the invasion. He said: “Some people aided by security operatives invaded the community and killed two of our members. Thereafter, they came back one night and started setting fire on the buildings. A woman that was carrying a few days old baby had to abandon her child in the house and run away. Luckily, security operatives saw the child when he was crying and brought him out before fire could reach him. Thereafter, they went to the press to claim that they rescued a baby from fire incident. Whereas, they were the ones that set the house on fire and forced the mother to run away.
“It was not only the woman that ran away. Everybody started to run for his dear life and the only safe place that people could run to was the river. As people that are used to doing our daily activities on water, we didn’t find it difficult to cope with the turbulence of the river. But some people from other parts of the country and neighbouring countries that were not used to life on the river did not find it convenient escaping through the river. Many of them drowned in the river and were later brought out by some people from neighbouring communities who came with boats to rescue the rest of us.”
Ahisu described the invasion as war-like “because the security operatives were shooting sporadically. The children were seriously traumatised because they had never witnessed such a ferocious attack in their lives. Many of them fell ill thereafter and are yet to overcome the shock till today. I have taken my wife and my children out of Lagos State to where their security is guaranteed.”
Like the other children, Ahisu said: “My children have also not been going to school since then. They can’t go to school because their uniforms, textbooks, notebooks, results and everything about their education were burnt during the attack. Besides, the parents’ means of livelihood have been destroyed and as a result, they lack the resources to provide new ones for them. Hardworking men and women have been turned to indolent people. The primary concern is how the children would have something to eat and survive. Education can come thereafter.”
Members of the Nigeria Slum/Informal Settlement Initiative who were seen giving snacks to the disoriented children expressed disappointment about the children’s predicament.
One of them, who did not want his name in print, said: “We are an international organisation providing assistance to poor people in slums. We have been coming here to give food and medical support to the children and their parents because the condition they are in presently is condemnable. As you can see, they have no shelter anymore and have to sleep in the open where mosquitoes feast on their bodies that have been deprived of good food. I find it disappointing that the education of the children is not even considered in all these. This is why some children get derailed in life. Something should be done about this.”
Aside from the Otodogbame where all the children are out of school, findings also showed that the number of OSC in Makoko, a sprawling slum in Yaba area of the state, is also high.
When The Nation visited the area, a large number of half naked school age children were found moving about the riverine community when their mates were in school. While some were hawking different ware on the rivers using wooden boats, some others vivaciously frolicked around.
One of them, Segun, said he has never gone to school because his parents never enrolled him.
The 10 year old said: “I don’t go to school. I do see some of my mates going to school but I have never gone to school. My parents have never taken me to school. The only place my mother takes me to is the market where we hawk food. When we come back from the market, the only thing I do is to play around the community and eat.”
Kona, a 14-year-old boy who paddles boat to earn a living also said: “ I stopped going to school after completing primary six. The simple reason for this is because my parents couldn’t pay my school fees again. I wasn’t even going to school every day when I was in the primary school because the money wasn’t there for my parents to pay my bills. This was why I decided to take to the job of paddling boats to earn a living. I would have loved to continue with my education if my parents had the means. As it is now, I don’t see myself going back to school.”
Ajara, a teenage fish seller, told The Nation that she lost interest in education when the parents always failed to pay her fees.
She said: “I was tired of a situation where one would go to school today and stay back at home for another two or three days before the parents would have money to pay. Instead of wasting my time at home, I decided to be hawking fish. I don’t have to wait for when my parents would bring money before I eat again. Education is good but I don’t think it is meant for poor people like us.”
Some of the school owners in the community also attested to the fact that a large number of the children are still out of school in spite of their intervention. The proprietor of Holy Ghost Primary School, Joseph Omni said, even though schools are springing up in the area, many children are still out of school. He noted that many who are even in school don’t come to school all the time because of their parents’ inability to pay the paltry sum of N50 that he charges every day.
“ The pupils here don’t pay school fees per term as you have it in other places. If you ask them to pay every term, they will not come to school again. Here, I charge N50 per day and as little as this money is, many parents still find it difficult to pay. From time to time, you will find some of the children not coming to school because the parents didn’t have money to give them.
“In spite of this, we still urge them to come to school. If you don’t encourage them to come, they will relax and not come to school again. It will even surprise you to know that I am the one that goes to their homes to bring them to school in the morning and take them back after closing hours. I have a boat and a driver that goes to their homes to bring them. If you don’t do that, they will not come to school because the cost of boarding boats to school and going back home is even more than what they would pay in school.”
He added: “The same thing applies in the secondary school where I charge each pupil a paltry sum of N1,500 a month. Most of their parents can’t afford this. All that their parents do at the end of every month is to send the sum of N500 instead of the N1,500 that they are supposed to pay. Instead of sending them away, we still accommodate them just to make sure that they do not drop out of school. I have four teachers working in the primary section. At the end of some months, we may not generate more than N20,000. This is what I will share among the teachers and myself.”
The story took an amusing but a more pathetic note when The Nation met a teacher of another school in the community. The encounter opened up the depth of poverty in the environment and the sordid darkness surrounding the academic lives of the children. The teacher in EPP Halleluyah Agbojedo Nursery and Primary School, Joseph Godonu, sadly noted that many parents who have many children in the school often come to beg that two of the children should be allowed to pay N70 a day instead of the N100 for both.
“Many parents can’t send their kids to school because they have many children. What they do is to send one or two of the children to school and leave the others at home until they are old enough to become apprentices.
“Some of these parents can’t afford to pay the sum of N50 that we charge as daily fee. There are some that would even plead that we should be taking N70 for their two children because they can’t afford N50 for each child. We don’t turn such parents away because if we do, their education will crash. We are here to help arrest the incidence of having children dropping out of school.”
Decrying the plight of the children, a rights activist and Executive Director, Centre for Children’s Health, Education, Orientation and Protection (CEE-HOPE), Betty Abba, blamed the rising cases of OSC on the state of the economy. She said: ‘’The number of OSC is on a sharp increase due to the general recession in the country. It’s a hard time for children generally and for many economically hard-hit parents, education is no longer a priority. It’s sad because that means Nigeria will yet retain the unenviable position as having the highest number of out-of-school children globally. It’s sadder still because I don’t see any serious or concerted effort by the government in terms of providing palliatives towards boosting school retention for affected children and families.”
She regretted that some government policies and exercises have thrown thousands of children out of school. “Schools have been demolished in the informal housing, which government likes to call shanties; meanwhile it is not providing alternatives or boosting the grossing housing deficit. It’s naturally not possible for families sleeping outside or under the bridges to contemplate education for their children when they have no idea where their next meals would be coming from. It’s a terrible time for so many children in Lagos,” she said.
Speaking on the free education policy of various government’s in the country, Abba said: “As far as I know, there is no such thing as free education. In the public schools across the country laying claim to free universal education, the fact is that parents still pay heavily for school materials such as uniforms, exercise books, text books and of course the ubiquitous school levies. Many parents grappling with inability to feed their children do not have the luxury of such expenses. It’s not the ideal, but that is the reality.
“If government, corporate bodies, and ngos can help with the supply of these things, it will make a lot of difference in school enrolment. “We have seen the difference that N1,000 can make in the realisation of an indigent child’s educational dream, and in setting him/her on the path to greatness. The more children we are able and willing to put in school, the better for those children and the better and safer for all of us as a society. Again, that is the reality.
“My ngo has provided scholarship to about 50 children in four states in this new school year and hope to increase it with time. We also organise summer classes for both in-school and out-of-school or pre-school children in addition to several educational and developmental programmes. We provided summer classes for one month for about 200 children in two Lagos slums (Makoko and Monkey Village) last holiday season and hope to increase it this year.”
She regretted that the country may not attain the SDG goal 4 of the United Nation with the present situation. “We need to rake up the state of our education. Education is not yet for all in Nigeria, and that way, we cannot have prosperity for all.
‘’When children drop out of school, their lives slide down the sloppy road to destruction: drugs, crimes, teenage pregnancy, child marriage, teenage prostitution or a regression to plain under-performing life as an illiterate or semi-illiterate. Nothing equates education and no words can truly equate the loss of it in a modern, complex and competitive world. A country that doesn’t prioritise education and human capacity development is simply dead on arrival in our times.
“Therefore, governments at all levels should make education compulsory for every child, enforce free universal basic education and ensure that every child is in school. Boost school retention by subsiding school fees and levies, very importantly, provide school meals. Our governments must not only live by rhetorics but must march words with action.”
The Lagos State Government has however restated its commitment to the total upgrading of schools in the state, especially those in the slums.
Rising from an intensive three-day retreat for members of the State Executive Council and legislators from the Senate, House of Representatives and State House of Assembly, held at the Eko Hotels and Suites in Victoria Island, with the theme, “Good Governance In A Recession”, the state government said there was need to upgrade the quality of schools through training and re-training of teachers, as well as improving the infrastructure.
In another breath, the state government, through the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), said it has been paying the school fees of many vulnerable children in the state and also dealing with people who take pleasure in abusing children.
The Commissioner of WAPA, Hon. Lola Akande, made the remark during the celebration of this year’s World Orphans Day held at Alausa, Ikeja. Akande, who was represented by the Director Child Development, Mrs Alaba Fadairo, said: “We became focused upon the enactment of Child’s Rights Law and embarked on various initiatives over the years to make the Lagos child abuse-free by creating awareness distributing child’s rights law, Yellow cards to offenders, distributing suggestion boxes in various public primary and secondary schools, daily reports through the ministry’s help-lines, interventions on reported cases, rescue of abused children and payment of school fees and hostel fees for orphans and vulnerable children\abused children. Our ministry is about family and child development while helping to preserve families. We work to aid families of widows, families with single mothers and other families at the risk of disintegration.”
