Over 20,000 Fulani Children Not in School in Kogi

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By Zacchaeus Ozovehe.

 

No fewer than 20,000 Fulani children of school age in Kogi State who are desirous of being educated are out of school.

This is so because the nomadic school structure in the state has since been collapsed due largely to non supervision and monitoring by the authorities.

This was exclusively obtained by this reporter in Lokoja from an empirical research conducted across the 21 local government areas by a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Taimako Kogi Youths Support Group.

 

The group which is interested in improving Early Child Development (ECD), Adult Education and Youths Skill Acquisition also hinted that there is alarming decline in the girl-child enrollment into education in Obajana, Lokoja, Okene, Adavi, Itobe, Ankpa and Dekina.

The chairman of the group, Mr Michael Onu Omala in a recent meeting with members of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) from 21 local government areas of the state, lamented that the nomadic school children are always left unattended to in the schools which are situated in the rural areas while their supposed teachers are in towns receiving salaries for job not done.

Kogi State Secretary of MACBAN and Senior Special Assistant to Kogi State Governor on Fulani and Farmers Relations, Mallam Suleiman Abubakar during the meeting decried the sudden extinction of nomadic schools in the state.

A graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Mallam Abubakar who revealed that he started his academic pursuit in nomadic school years back, wondered why nomadic teachers in the state suddenly stopped going to classes.

He lamented further that the chances of Fulani children becoming professionals in various fields of endeavour have been jeopardised.

“We have written times without number to the State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) and the corporate headquarters in Kaduna. Our investigations did confirm to us that nomadic teachers are still getting their salary while the school structure are left in decrepit”, he revealed.

He consequently urged government to resuscitate nomadic schools in the state and ensure that adequate supervisory measures are put in place to forestall lackadaisical attitude of teachers in nomadic schools across the state.

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