North has World's highest illiterate children —World Bank
Written by Emma Ujah & Luka Binniyat
Tuesday, October 7, 2008

* Poverty in the North, embarrassing – Yar’Adua







ABUJA—The Northern Nigeria Economic and Investment Summit, kicked off in Abuja yesterday with the World Bank, saying that Northern Nigeria has the highest number of children not going to School in the world.

The Minister of Finance, Dr Usman Shamsudeen, while addressing the gathering of eminent Northerners at the Summit alluded the aforementioned to a recent World Bank statistics.

According to him, the level of education of a people has direct correlation with their living standards.

He then lamented that based on that correlation, Northern Nigeria was far behind all of humanity when it comes to Child Education.

His words: “About two months ago”, he said, “the Ministry of Finance organised a review session with our Development Partner like the World Bank. The World Bank representative gave a list of statistics that should shock all of us into action”, he said.

He said that "Northern Nigeria remains, and represents the only place in the world that has the highest number of Children that are not going to school. The Highest number of children that are not going to school in the world are in Northern Nigeria”, he emphasized.

He blamed the problem on lack of commitment and efforts on the part of Northern leaders. He then called on responsible, experienced and educated retired Northerners to take up political leadership of their various states, as politics has been hijacked by hoodlums who have turned it to total warfare

President Umaru Yar’Adua whose speech was read by the Minister of Commerce, Mr. Charles Ugwu, noted that there still remained a worrisome and embarrassing poverty situation in most part of Northern Nigeria.

This, the President said, is in spite of a sustained Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate of 6%; relatively stabilised Naira, controlled inflation and an enviable Foreign Reserve presently put at over $63 billion in a stable polity.

“In fact, in most of the Northern States the poverty level is very high”, Yar A’dua observed.

“In some of these States, there is equally high unemployment rate, near total collapse of infrastructure, virtual absence of new investments, while practically all the States depend essentially on revenues accruing from the Federation Account”, he said.

He then called on Northern States to take the advantage they have in Agriculture and Solid Mineral and harness them for the well being of their people.

Professor Ibrahim Gambari, Under Secretary-General, Special Adviser to the Secretary General of the United Nations in his address lamented the poverty level of the North using grim statistics.

“On Health and Education”, he said, “the level of immunization of Children against dangerous childhood diseases, in the South-East is 44.6% immunization coverage, but the North-West has 3.7% and the North-East 3.6%.”, he said

“If you take the education of the girl-child as indicator, you see similar pattern of inequality with the South-East having an enrolment rate of 85%, South-Wes having an enrolment rate of 85%, South-South 75%, while the North-East 20% and North West 25%."
http://odili.net/news/source/2008/oct/7/304.html

This is unbelievable.

He blamed the problem on lack of commitment and efforts on the part of Northern leaders. He then called on responsible, experienced and educated retired Northerners to take up political leadership of their various states, as politics has been hijacked by hoodlums who have turned it to total warfare

Not necessarily political leadership, since the South is suffering from that also. The Northerner psyche has to be reinstated on the benefits of education and it starts with the family!!!

elodie:


President Umaru Yar’Adua whose speech was read by the Minister of Commerce, Mr. Charles Ugwu, noted that there still remained a worrisome and embarrassing poverty situation in most part of Northern Nigeria.

This, the President said, is in spite of a sustained Gross Domestic Product Growth Rate of 6%; relatively stabilised Naira, controlled inflation and an enviable Foreign Reserve presently put at over $63 billion in a stable polity.

“In fact, in most of the Northern States the poverty level is very high”, Yar A’dua observed.

“In some of these States, there is equally high unemployment rate, near total collapse of infrastructure, virtual absence of new investments, while practically all the States depend essentially on revenues accruing from the Federation Account”, he said.

He then called on Northern States to take the advantage they have in Agriculture and Solid Mineral and harness them for the well being of their people.

This is the same man who was Governor of a state in the same North for 8 SOLID YEARS coming to EXPRESS SHOCK HERE?? WHY THE FRELL is he still a politician in that country?? Why do we continue to allow this sort of idiots ( I rarely insult these people but gosh!!!) back to continue decieving themselves??

the answer is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo simple, education, education, education, geez.

“If you take the education of the girl-child as indicator, you see similar pattern of inequality with the South-East having an enrolment rate of 85%, South-Wes having an enrolment rate of 85%, South-South 75%, while the North-East 20% and North West 25%."

They have tried na.
It used to be about 10% in the late eighties and early nineties.
Are they counting those arabic schools where the kids are sprawled on the floor, rocking back and forth and mumbling things as education?

North of Nigeria hehe.sad !

the answer to this is the republic of arewa, this way the north can setup there own education system. if they remain in nigeria, the south would block thier progress.

the best advice. the north was better of under the northern region govt than it is today under the PDP. so what does that tell you. they need to go back and form thier own govt.

North has World's highest illiterate children —World Bank

Big lie. North has more educated people than many parts of asia and Africa. i think this is a ploy to get Nigerian govt to concentrate on the north more than the south.

DeepZone:


Big lie. North has more educated people than many parts of asia and Africa. i think this is a ploy to get Nigerian govt to concentrate on the north more than the south.

You and the way you analyze sha, u just too much.
Personally, i am sure they are refering to the per capital, cos the populations of educated Nigerian northerners is not good at all, when u compare it to the actual Northerners and this i will blame on the Islamic religion, cos it seems to be a religion of dominance, especially to dominate the women, and that is why more girls are not in school, if you further break it down.

Although, i wont dismiss your believe and at same time, i think the North needs some development, but i just would like to know what they wanna develop, would it be their land, or would it be to build banks and offices there, and how many company will wanna move to a place where people will torch anything all in the name of religion.

I am sure that soon and very soon, they will grow up and ddevelop even their mind, cos they need to develop their minds before they can develop their lands.

and why are they not using north central in the statistics?

send a mail via

Northcentral@mallam.illeteracy.org.

the british refusing to go deep into the north has a lot to do with this.  lots of northerners see formal education as a western way of diluting their culture.  why send my kid to primary school when he could learn arabic in ile kewu??  lots of these kids are also used for subsistence farming by families who either can't afford or don't value education.   education is one of the benefits missionaries brought to the south. the north missed out on that.

DRANOEL:

and why are they not using north central in the statistics?

I wonder,

North this, north that!
This is another public relation attempt to justify shifting educational resources from the south to the north.
People wake up!

bawomolo:

the british refuses to go deep into the north has a lot to do with this. lots of northerners see formal education as a western way of diluting their culture. why send my kid to primary school when he could learn arabic in ile kewu?? lots of these kids are also used for subsistence farming by families who either can't afford or don't value education. education is one of the benefits, missionaries brought to the south. the north missed out on that.

See Afghanistan and that will explain to you what is happening in the North.
Imagine a Norther kids going to school to study law, how will he practice with sharia where a woman is seen as second class citizen.

Oh!!! until the stats say NORTH-CENTRAL, na ojoro?? roflmao!!!

Do we really appreciate how fraudulent statistics and data collection from the north has become? From census, to birth/death rates, to school enrollments, to income, to number of unemployed--- are all fraudlently manipulated to relegate the south.
If you said that a state with 1 million people has 10 million people for the basis of sharing federal revenue, and then use the 10million figure to do other calculations, then everything will be off.
The reality remains unchanged, ie you're dealing with 1 million people and not 10 million.

naijaking1:

Do we really appreciate how fraudulent statistics and data collection from the north has become? From census, to birth/death rates, to school enrollments, to income, to number of unemployed--- are all fraudlently manipulated to relegate the south.
If you said that a state with 1 million people has 10 million people for the basis of sharing federal revenue, and then use the 10million figure to do other calculations, then everything will be off.
The reality remains unchanged, ie you're dealing with 1 million people and not 10 million.

A satellite picture to justify this is coming soon

@ dranoel nd josboy4life they are at it again. Wat about the north central?

naijaking1:

North this, north that!
This is another public relation attempt to justify shifting educational resources from the south to the north.
People wake up!

If they like, they can shift it to Chad and even Niger republic. That doesn't take anything away from Igbo people that phuck out their children's school fees from their own personal pockets to make sure that their children obtains the much needed education. Today, JAMB and other educational statistics can tell you with facts that Igbos are the most educated in nigeria and this is despite having no support from the so called federal government of their so called ONE nigeria.
You sound as if nigeria have ever paid any kobo for the education of any Igbo person. Upon all these glaring facts plus others, yet some people want Igbos to remain in the same country with this irritants, parasites and illiterates and wait for them to catch up while derailing the supposed fast pace of Igbo development. Where and when and how many years do you think these sleeping people need to use to finally catch up with others? Go to their nigerian military, it is the same where enrollment grade starts from JSS3 just to make sure they accommodate more northerners in their mediocre military because most can not even finish there SS education. Yet, some ignorant people in the name of arrs licking will hail their military as the best in Africa. Nonsense!!!

deor03:

A satellite picture to justify this is coming soon

LOLOLOL. . . . .

In the world, i refuse to agree to this

Can someone please tell me the definition of illiteracy: I feel people misdiagnose a lot

Instead of accepting reality as is, and then work towards a solution for better, let us instead RE-DEFINE the problem in such a way that we can say "IT IS NOT AS BAD AS IT REALLY IS" and sleep better with ourselves, WOOHOO!!!

QuotaSyste:

If they like, they can shift it to Chad and even Niger republic. That doesn't take anything away from Igbo people that phuck out their children's school fees from their own personal pockets to make sure that their children obtains the much needed education. Today, JAMB and other educational statistics can tell you with facts that Igbos are the most educated in nigeria and this is despite having no support from the so called federal government of their so called ONE nigeria.
You sound as if nigeria have ever paid any kobo for the education of any Igbo person. Upon all these glaring facts plus others, yet some people want Igbos to remain in the same country with this irritants, parasites and illiterates and wait for them to catch up while derailing the supposed fast pace of Igbo development. Where and when and how many years do you think these sleeping people need to use to finally catch up with others? Go to their nigerian military, it is the same where enrollment grade starts from JSS3 just to make sure they accommodate more northerners in their mediocre military because most can not even finish there SS education. Yet, some ignorant people in the name of arrs licking will hail their military as the best in Africa. Nonsense!!!

Underestimate the power of sustained public relation effort, and northern political machinations at your own peril.
If you allocate #1million for 100 children in the north and same amount for 10,000 children in the south, then no one needs to tell you that it's only a question of time before people stop going to school in the south.

Kobojunkie:

Oh!!! until the stats say NORTH-CENTRAL, na ojoro?? roflmao!!!

North Central is majorly Christian, with states like Plateau, Kwara, Nassarawa, etc, Hence doesn't so much of have an educational problem.

It tells you that the educational problems of the north are an Ideological one, not geographical.

About shifting resources to the North, I bet you it wont work. I think the South is much much smarter now.
Asides, all those things they did previously like Quota system, JAMB, PTF, etc, they didn't improve education in the North, in fact they only worsened it.
On the other hand, Quota System, JAMB etc actually helped the south develop a very robust private sector educational system.

If you said that a state with 1 million people has 10 million people for the basis of sharing federal revenue, and then use the 10million figure to do other calculations, then everything will be off.
The reality remains unchanged, ie you're dealing with 1 million people and not 10 million.

So true. I bet they didn't think about that when they were planning the fraud.

PapaBrowne:

North Central is majorly Christian, with states like Plateau, Kwara, Nassarawa, etc, Hence doesn't so much of have an educational problem.

It tells you that the educational problems of the north are an Ideological one, not geographical.

About shifting resources to the North, I bet you it wont work. I think the South is much much smarter now.
Asides, all those things they did previously like Quota system, JAMB, PTF, etc, they didn't improve education in the North, in fact they only worsened it.
On the other hand, Quota System, JAMB etc actually helped the south develop a very robust private sector educational system.

The fact remains that as long as the north continues to suffer in this area and many, the longer the whole country continues in the same cycle. It is in the country's interest that the north is given adequate resources to ENSURE positive change in the area of education. When I mean resources, I am in no way limiting speaking simply of financial resources here.

I don't agree that the North has the highest illiterate children in the world. Are the children of Afghanistan and Burkina Faso more educated than
the children of Northern Nigeria ? I don't think so.

May be among the highest in the world, but not the highest.

Do people just want to live in denial or are those that are saying this is impossible actually have any arguement based on reasoning of some sort to support the position that this is not the case? Let us stop dreaming.
@Kobojunkie, the thing is you can force a horse to the stream but you can't force it to drink water. If someone genuinely wants help they will be more willing to accept it . So if help is not wanted what can people then do? Force help on a particular people?

I strongly believe that the solution is to remove such hindrances like quotasytem in education and employment, etc so that whomever wants to develop and advance will do so. When people see that a particular area is developed and has achieved such by hard work, accountable government, and a fairer society then whoever wants devlopment can work to achieve this. No area of the country should be put on hold for any other area to catch up. It is simply fair that way, the country is already in shambles and this continuous petting of certain egos is ridiculous. The continuous attempt at wooing common sense into existence is amusing. This idea of employment by implementing a quota syatem is simply hurting the workforce and civil service because it is not based on the best man for the job hence what quality of workforce would such a system be expected to produce? This is simply stating the truth and perhaps sincere and tough love not based on hatred but based on honesty and in the interest of everyone might be what is required. The North is grossly under developed when compared to other parts of Nigeria, the people of that region appear to have the highest percentage of 'uneducated' in the country hence the misjudged 'need' for a quota system that chooses people not based on ability to do the job, knowledge, skills etc but on ethnic affiliation; the north is one of the very rare places in the world were polio is still prevalent, the list goes on.

Those who want to get offended by such truth can if they want but this appears to be the reality. The question is not who can throw a tantrum about this the most or who can claim offence the most or indulge us all in phoney outrage but rather what is going to be done to improve the situation which seems to be in fact the reality.

Tonim:


I don't agree that the North has the highest illiterate children in the world. Are the children of Afghanistan and Burkina Faso more educated than
the children of Northern Nigeria ? I don't think so.

May be among the highest in the world, but not the highest.

Even at that It is still pathetic

PapaBrowne:

North Central is majorly Christian, with states like Plateau, Kwara, Nassarawa, etc, Hence doesn't so much of have an educational problem.

The North Central is not Majority Christian, but has the highest number of Christains than other region in the North.

Kobojunkie:

The fact remains that as long as the north continues to suffer in this area and many, the longer the whole country continues in the same cycle. It is in the country's interest that the north is given adequate resources to ENSURE positive change in the area of education. When I mean resources, I am in no way limiting speaking simply of financial resources here.

What do you expect when the top hierarchy of northern leaders continues to relegate education to the background? Unless the North tackles the education lag the region will still continue to remain in shadow of poverty.

I hope see the day when Northern elites will emulate their southern counterpart in sponsoring poor students on scholarship as done by their counterparts in the south.