IT was not a day of cheerful news for Northern Nigeria as it was declared on Monday to be the region with the highest number of children not atending school in the world.
It was at the occasion of the Northern Nigeria Economic and Investment Summit which kicked off in Abuja and the statistics was qouted from World Bank figures.
Minister of Finance, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, who quoted the statistics while addressing the gathering of eminent Northerners at the summit, said the level of education of a people had direct correlation with their living standards.
He contended that going by the statistics, the North was far behind all of humanity when it comes to child education. “About two months ago, the Ministry of Finance organised a review session with our development partner like the World Bank and the bank’s representative gave a list of statistics that should shock all of us into action.
“Northern Nigeria remains, and represents the only place in the world that has the highest number of children that are not going to school,” he stated.
Usman, who blamed the problem on lack of commitment and efforts on the part of Northern leaders, charged experienced and educated retired Northerners to take up political leadership of their various states since, according to him, politics had been hijacked by hoodlums who have turned it to total warfare.
President Umaru Yar’Adua, in his speech read by the Minister of Commerce, Chief Charles Ugwu, noted that there was a worrisome and embarrassing level of poverty in most parts of Northern Nigeria.