Rawani:

Trolls should stick to the Ethnicity/Racism section as they will be completely ignored.

OkijaAmaka:
thenationonlineng.net/new/70-of-northerners-are-illiterates-atiku/

www.nairaland.com/1984841/bombshell-over-70-northerners-illiterates-atiku

oduastates:
Hmm.
You are right to an extent on the missionary part but on the whole, you are simply beating about the bush.
The missionaries only educated a few in the West. It was Awolowo who educated the masses.
The fact on the ground is that promoting education goes beyond fancy building or simply just throwing money at it.
It is a state of mind. I do not see any state anywhere apart from maybe rivers state mobilising as much resources for education as Osun.
Even the the south, many states are as bad as the north. E.g bayelsa.

Rawani:


Your observations are appreciated, I agree Pa Awolowo contributed immensely to the spread of education in the south, and I respect him a lot for that. What points were not clear to you particularly?

oduastates:


Why are you attributing the problem to social problem like population, settlement pattern, neglect when in actual fact, you can put it simply as,

1 selfishness of Northern leaders
2 corruption
3 shortsightedness
4 lack of competent leadership
5 feudal relationship between the northern elites and the masses.

Like someone said, the poverty rates in Nigerian states and all the other bad indices of development,is a measure of how corrupt that place is.
This summary comes from northerners themselves

Rawani:


Every factor you itemized is applicable to all regions of Nigeria (except no. 5 which is total hogwash), while I'm addressing the peculiarity of the northern situation. Wouldn't mentioning those factors imply that the reason other regions have higher literacy levels is because of the absence of corruption, selfishness, shortsightedness and lack of competent leadership which is an absolute fallacy? The peculiarities are being addressed because the northern situation is peculiar in this country.

oduastates:


You still don't get it.

Neither do you, apparently

Rawani:


Neither do you, apparently

oduastates:


I do.
You are putting out propaganda and distorting the reasons for the educational backwardness of the north.
Allowing you to go scot free means that,many children will be denied their basic rights in the future. A few glossy picture does not right a fundamental wrong. One of the most brilliant student I have ever met was the son of a northern elite. However the most educationally disadvantaged people you will ever meet are the children of Northern masses.

Oh dear how else can I explain this, again I have to ask if you read and understood the article. What you are saying has been acknowledged within that piece. I have told you the reason you want to hear is not peculiar to the region, therefore it's an exercise in futility to outline factors which are at best, generic. The attitude of northern elders which is a starting point for the needed change, contributed to the rot, and that was also in the article. The 'glossy' pictures are the efforts being put in place to fix the anomaly(ies). So what are you on about

Rawani:

[b]The question then arises; what have the northerners done about it all these years? Unfortunately selfish northern spiritual and political leaders had a 'eureka!' moment where they realized that they could twist the interpretations of Islamic scriptures to suit their selfish purposes, and feed it to the fertile, young and impressionable minds of the almajiri's who then grow up to be violent tools in the hands of these leaders, and any attempts at promoting western education by the constituted Northern authorities was seen as an affront to Islam, and a recipe for apostasy among adoptees.

It is however unjustifiable to state that the North is doing nothing to promote western education, as schools are now being built in these rural areas at an astounding pace (especially the UBE projects) and the establishment of World Class Universities by both private individuals and Government, such as Abti-American University, Yola by Alh. Atiku Abubakar (by far the 'poshest' University in Nigeria) and the newly commissioned North West University, Kano.[/b]

Rich4god:
The earlier the northern elite as a state relagate religion to the background (making it an individual thing) and push western education forward, then the better for all of them.

OREMUSSANCTUS:
As far as child-marriage is still prevalent in d north, ma people d illetracy level dere will continue to sky rocket. Only d rich give their children d best, d poor marry their children out and dose ones give birth like ants and den no money to train demselves not to talk of dem kids. D vicious cycle of poverty theory is apllicable to d north, for dose dat know economics.

Rawani:


I absolutely agree with you, however it's easier said than done. Religion is said to be the opium of the masses (especially Nigerian ones), as exemplified by our frequent calls for divine intervention instead of planning to avoid or solve problems.

Rawani:


A high population is a double-edged sword if not managed properly (China is a perfect example) and I highlighted this in the article. The Islamic allowance of marrying up to 4 wives has everything to do with this (not to say it is wrong), therefore commensurate allowance has to be made for this unique circumstance by the northern authorities. This might be difficult if the north does not develop its resources to be able to cater for this population, which the opposition party has stated to be one of the main thrusts of its economic policy if elected, hence our support. Nice contribution.

Rawani:
cc: ibnsultan, caseless, muhdG, moswags, nafiachi, eesaah, simbad221, ayesman, arewafederation, fulaman, nduchuks, Janedoe26 and all concerned NL's.

Ayesman:


Yawwa.... Na gaishe da Rawani.

CyberWolf:
The earlier you people abolish amajiri system, the better for you..

Rawani:


As it is, the almajiri system is almost erased by post-modernism, what remains are impoverished children of impoverished parents who send their children to get Islamic education from local scholars, who in turn send them out to beg for alms and food to sustain themselves and their 'school'. I can boldly state that less than 10% of the urban population of children in northern states practice almajiranchi, as basic western education is free is most (if not all) northern states. The bulk of the almajiri are in the rural areas which lack necessary educational infrastructure, which is being addressed.

Let me remind you that no parent wants their child to beg, it is mostly as a result of poverty. I know Sheikhs who have extra-moral lessons organized in their houses for their children, and sometimes neighbours as well. It is a complex issue, one which has to be handled carefully so that the rights of individuals to religion will not be infringed upon.

CyberWolf:
but what are your governors doing?..if a poor state like my state Ebonyi, can offer free primary and secondary education, why can't your governors can't do so? Basic education can do better for them,their family and the society at large than all this religion stuffs...